Some of the Maraje’ taqlid’s viewpoints regarding the short pause after recitation and the qiyam connected to ruku’, are as follows:

The office of the Grand Ayatollah Khamenei (may God grant him a long life):

1. Pausing is not mandatory and saying the mustahab takbir isn’t wajib either.

2. The qiyam that must be connected to ruku’ which is a rukn (pillar of prayer) is to go to ruku’ from a standing position; basically, to be standing still with calmness right before going to ruku’ is enough. The qiyam after ruku’ is also wajib, yet it is not considered to be a rukn of prayer, so forgetting it unintentionally is not problematic.

The office of the Grand Ayatollah Sistani (may God grant him a long life):

1. It is wajib.

2. Meaning that if one forgets it, s/he must return to the standing position and then go to ruku’.

The office of the Grand Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi (may God grant him a long life):

1. It is legal to go to ruku’ immediately after recitation.

2. Qiyam means standing; it has been declared wajib in two sections of prayer: when saying Takbir al-Ihram and before ruku’, which is called “the qiyam connected to ruku”. On the other hand the qiyam when reciting both surahs along with the qiyam after ruku’ are wajib also, but aren’t considered to be a rukn. What is meant by the qiyam connected to ruku’ is for the ruku’ to take place from a standing position. Thus if one bends down to kill a threatening creature s/he must initially stand up and then go down to ruku’.

The office of the Grand Ayatollah Safi Golpaygani:

1. Saying the recommended dhikr is not mandatory. A short pause for a few moments after finishing the surah is enough. This is called the qiyam connected to ruku’ that is considered to be a pillar of prayer and is followed by ruku’. One of its rulings, for instance, is that if someone forgets to go to ruku’ and bends down to perform sajdah but remembers in the middle of the way, s/he must stand up again and then perform ruku’.

Ayatollah Hadavi Tehrani’s answer is as follows:

1. It is permissible to perform ruku immediately after recitation; there is no need to say the recommended dhikr, although of course it is mustahab.

2. What is meant by the qiyam connected to ruku’ is to go to ruku’ from qiyam (the standing position). Therefore if someone accidentally goes down to sajdah but remembers s/he has not performed ruku’ yet before reaching sajdah, s/he must stand up straight and then do ruku’ and abstain from going to ruku’ straight from the bended position s/he was previously in.