Silent recital of post-prayer invocations: is it permitted? Is it obligatory to follow?

Answered by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

In my mosque, muezzin gives command after prayer when to say ”subhanallah”, ”alhamdulillah” and so on. And it is done after sunnah prayer. Is that practice OK? Also, many times they do it so fast that they finish with ”subhanallah” or ”alhamdulillah” and I did only half of it. So, I started to do dhikr after fard prayer by myself and it looks that they don’t like what I am doing. Please, advise me, can I do dhikr after fard prayer since I want to do it slowly and with the presence of the heart.

Answer:

Walaikum assalam wa rahmatullah,

The practice of the imam or muezzin guiding the congregation in silent recital of post-prayer invocations is permitted and of obvious benefit—many of those who would otherwise not perform this tremendous sunna are assisted in doing so.

However, one is not bound to follow them, if reciting more slowly is more conducive to one’s concentration or presence of heart. In such cases, do so with discretion.

And Allah alone gives success.

Wassalam,

Faraz Rabbani