What are the decrees about reading aloud or silently in prayer?

- Does it harm the prayer if a person reads in a prayer aloud enough for the people in the congregation in the mosque or in a room to hear him? Does it harm the prayer if a person reads the chapters aloud enough for the people passing by or sitting in the same place to hear? In what parts of the prayer is it necessary to read aloud and what parts silently?

Dear Brother / Sister,

To read aloud in a prayer when it is necessary to read silently does not invalidate the prayer but sajdah as-sahw becomes necessary.  

A person who is performing a prayer individually can read aloud or silently when he performs the morning, evening and night prayers. The same thing is valid for the nafilah prayers performed at night. However, it is wajib for him to read silently in the noon and afternoon prayers and the nafilah prayers performed during the daytime. If he reads aloud, sajdah as-sahw is necessary.

It is wajib for the imam to lead the prayers during the daytime by reading silently and at night by reading aloud. Sajdah as-sahw becomes necessary because of abandoning a wajib.  

The amount of reading aloud in a place where it is necessary to read silently is the amount of qira’ah that is fard. Thus, if three short verses or one long verse equal to the length of three short verses are read, sajdah as-sahw becomes necessary; if it is less, sajdah as-sahw is not necessary.

To change the quality of a wjib necessitates sajdah as-sahw like the imam reading silently the verses that he needs to read aloud or vice versa. This amount of reading is the amount that is long enough to make a prayer valid. To read the first verses of the chapter pf al-Fatiha is like that. However, according to Abu Hanifa, reading one short verse is also like that. According to Imam Muhammad and Abu Yusuf, it is not like that.

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