What is the ruling on saying "Allahu Akbar" with an open ra in the takbirat of the prayer?
The diacritical mark for the letter "ra" in "Akbar" is a damma, because it is a nominative predicate (khabar marfu'). When pausing on it, the "ra" becomes silent. The Imam's opening of the "ra" is a grammatical error that does not invalidate the prayer, because a linguistic error (lahn) in recitation does not harm if it does not change the meaning. The Imam should be alerted to this.
Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026
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