Question: If a person fails to catch up with the imam in the first rak’at, what procedure should he follow? Could you please explain with a separate example for each case?
ANSWER
A person who is late for salat and has not joined the imam in the first rak’at is called a masbuq. The masbuq stands up after the imam has said the salam to both sides and performs the rak’ats he missed. He recites in an order as he would do if he were performing the first rak’at, then the second rak’at, and then the third rak’at. But he must do the sitting postures in a backward order, as if he were performing the fourth, the third, and the second rak’at, that is, as if he began with the last rak’at, and so on backward.
Examples:
1. Suppose that a person has caught up with the imam in the second rak’at of Salat az-Zuhr, of Salat al-Asr, or of Salat al-Isha. That is, he has missed only one rak’at. He stands up after the imam says the salam to both sides and recites “Subhanakallahumma …,” Surat al-Fatiha, and an additional surah. After doing ruku’ and sajdas, he sits and recites at-tahiyyat, salawat, and “Rabbanaa aatinaa … .”
2. Suppose that he has caught up with the imam in the third rak’at of Salat az-Zuhr, of Salat al-Asr, or of Salat al-Isha. That is, he has missed two rak’ats. He stands up after the imam says the salam to both sides and recites “Subhanakallahumma …,” Surat al-Fatiha, and an additional surah. After doing ruku’ and sajdas, he must sit [according to another qawl, his salat will still be valid even if he does not sit]. After saying at-tahiyyat, he stands up. He recites Surat al-Fatiha and an additional surah. Then he does ruku’ and sajdas and then sit. He recites at-tahiyyat, salawat, “Rabbanaa aatinaa …” and says the salam. This is the preferred way.
3. Suppose that he has caught up with the imam in the fourth rak’at of Salat az-Zuhr, of Salat al-Asr, or of Salat al-Isha. After the imam says the salam to both sides, he stands up and recites “Subhanakallahumma …,” Surat al-Fatiha, and an additional surah. He does ruku’ and sajdas and then sits. He recites at-tahiyyat and stands up. Having recited Surat al-Fatiha and an additional surah, he does ruku’ and sajdas and stands up again without sitting. He recites Surat al-Fatiha and then does ruku’ and sajdas. He sits and recites at-tahiyyat, salawat, and “Rabbanaa aatinaa …” and then says the salam to both sides.
4. Suppose that he has caught up with the imam in the second rak’at of Salat al-Maghrib. After the imam says the salam to both sides, he stands up and recites “Subhanakallahumma …,” Surat al-Fatiha, and an additional surah. Then he does ruku’ and sajdas and then sits. He says the salam after reciting at-tahiyyat, salawat, and “Rabbanaa aatinaa … .”
If he has caught up with the imam in the third rak’at of Salat al-Maghrib, he stands up after the imam says the salam to both sides. He recites “Subhanakallahumma …,” Surat al-Fatiha, and an additional surah. Then he does ruku’ and sajdas and then sits. After reciting only at-tahiyyat, he stands up and recites Surat al-Fatiha and an additional surah. After doing ruku’ and sajdas, he sits and completes salat.
5. Suppose that he has caught up with the imam in the second rak’at of Salat al-Fajr. After the imam says the salam to both sides, he stands up and recites “Subhanakallahumma …,” Surat al-Fatiha, and an additional surah. After doing ruku’ and sajdas, he sits and completes salat.
6. A masbuq should recite at-tahiyyat slowly while the imam is performing the last sitting. If the masbuq completes it earlier than the imam does, he should repeat Kalima ash-Shahadah until the imam completes his recitation. He should not remain silent. There are other qawls on this matter, but this is the preferred one.
7. If a person has missed the last rak’at too and has caught up with the imam during tashahhud, he will still earn the reward of performing salat in jama’at.
8. It brings much thawab (reward) to say the opening takbir together with the imam. For this reason, one must make every effort to say the opening takbir together with the imam.
9. If he has missed all the rak’ats and has joined the imam in the last tashahhud before salam, he stands up after the imam says the salam to both sides. He performs salat without saying the opening takbir. He performs it in an order as he would do if he were performing salat from the beginning, or alternatively he may perform it in an order in which recitation is done from the first rak’at onward and sitting postures from the last sitting backward.
10. A settled (muqim) person is allowed to follow a traveler (safari). A traveler, too, is allowed to follow a settled person when performing a four-rak’at fard salat. If he has missed any rak’at, he completes salat to four rak’ats after the imam says the salam because when a traveler follows a settled person he must perform it as four rak’ats (instead of two rak’ats).
11. Suppose that a traveler missed Salat az-Zuhr, Salat al-Asr, and Salat al-Isha. As he has to make them up as two rak’ats, he is not allowed to follow a settled (muqim) imam who will make up the same salats. The reason for this is that it is not fard for a settled imam to sit in the second rak’at. As sitting in the second rak’at is fard for a traveler, he cannot follow a settled one.
12. If a latecomer sees that the imam is performing ruku’, he must recite the opening takbir while standing and then bow for ruku’. His salat will not be valid if he says it while bowing for ruku’. If the imam returns from ruku’ before he bows, he is counted as having missed that rak’at.
13. If a person joins the imam while the imam is performing recitation audibly, he does not recite the prayer that begins with “Subhanakallahumma ...” and listens to the recitation of the imam, for it is sunnat to recite the prayer “Subhanakallahumma …” while it is wajib to listen to the recitation of the imam. In order not to miss this prayer, one should make every effort to join the imam right away after the imam says the opening takbir. It is not right to give in to baseless misgivings and to delay joining the imam.
14. If a person enters the mosque when the imam is about to start a fard salat or while iqamah is being said, he should not stand for a sunnat salat among jama’at. Except for the sunnat salat of Salat al-Fajr, he must join the imam right away in the other fard salats. As for the sunnat salat of Salat al-Fajr, a latecomer should perform it in the anteroom of the mosque. In the absence of an anteroom, he should perform it behind a pillar. In the absence of a pillar, he must immediately join the imam for the fard salat. He is not allowed to perform the sunnat salat of Salat al-Fajr after the fard salat of it.
15. A latecomer should not stand for salat in a haphazard way. If a person passes in front of him while he is performing salat, he, too, will be sinful. He should stand behind a pillar. (Radd-ul-Mukhtar, Halabi)
Question: I said takbir al-iftihah (the opening takbir) quickly to catch up with the imam while he was in ruku’. I finished saying the takbir the moment I bent for ruku’. I remained in ruku’ with the imam for a split second. Am I considered to have caught up with that rak’at?
ANSWER
Your salat is not valid, let alone your rak’at. It is a requirement that the takbir al-iftitah is uttered while one is standing. If you had said the takbir al-iftitah in standing position and then had remained in ruku’ with the imam for a very short period of time, your salat would have been valid, and your rak’at would have counted. A person should not make such mistakes in his haste to catch up with a rak’at. Above all else, he must join salat correctly even if it costs him missing a rak’at. To that end, he has to say the takbir al-iftitah while standing.
Question: If a masbuq, when he enters the mosque, understands that the imam will not do sajda as-sahw, can he stand up to complete salat after the imam has said the salam to the right?
ANSWER
Yes, he can stand up. The salat finishes when the salam is said to the right. The latecomer may stand up before the imam says the salam to the left.
Question: A masbuq stands up to complete his salat when the imam says the salam. Is it permissible for a newcomer to join the masbuq, who is completing a fard salat?
ANSWER
It is not permissible to join the masbuq.
Question: Suppose that a person joined the imam in the second rak’at of Salat al-Maghrib. The imam recited Surat al-Falaq in the first rak’at and Surat an-Nas in the second rak’at. Then which surah should the masbuq recite in the first rak’at, which he will complete individually?
ANSWER
He may recite any surah, e.g., Surat al-Kawthar, Surat al-Fil, or Surat al-Baqarah.
Question: Suppose that a masbuq has caught up with the imam in the first sitting. He has intended to join the imam and has said the opening takbir. Should he fold his hands and then sit?
ANSWER
He should not fold his hands but sit right away. He will not be counted as having started salat if he says the opening takbir while going down.
Question: Suppose that a masbuq who is a traveler has caught up with the imam in the last rak’at of Salat al-Asr. He thought that the imam was settled, so he performed the salat as four-rak’ats. Is there anything wrong with it?
ANSWER
There is nothing wrong with it because he does not do it deliberately.
Question: Is the fard sitting for a masbuq the last sitting that he performs individually?
ANSWER
Yes, it is fard (obligatory) sitting for him.
Question: Is it permissible for a masbuq to stand up to complete his salat before the imam says the salam in the last sitting?
ANSWER
Waiting for the imam to say the salam is wajib. It is makruh tahrimi to stand up before the imam says the salam.
A masbuq is allowed to stand up before the salam of the imam if his salat is to become invalid. For example, while he is completing his salat individually, if there is the danger that the sun will rise or the time in which it is permissible to do masah over khuffs will expire or his wudu’ will become null and void due to the expiry of a salat time as he is an excused person or because of such reasons, he is allowed to stand up without waiting the imam to say the salam. (Halabi)
Question: Should a person who has caught up with the imam in the second rak’at recite salawat in the last sitting?
ANSWER
It is written in the book Halabi, “If a masbuq [a person who has not joined the imam in the first rak’at] finishes reciting at-tahiyyat before the imam says the salam, he may do one of the following:
1. He may repeat Kalima ash-Shahadah,
2. He may recite at-tahiyyat again,
3. He may remain silent, not reciting anything,
4. He may recite salawat and “Rabbanaa aatinaa …,”
5. He may recite at-tahiyyat so slowly that he will finish it when the imam says the salam. This is the preferred method. (Halabi-i Saghir)
Some scholars based the fatwa on the first alternative, which is preferred in the book Se’adet-i Ebediyye, too. It is written in Halabi, “If a muqtadi, that is, a person who has not missed any rak’ats and has joined the imam at the right time, finishes reciting at-tahiyyat, salawat, and the other prayers before the imam does, he should remain silent and wait. There is no qawl other than this on this matter.”
Question: When a masbuq is performing individually the rak’ats he missed, is it permissible for him to recite the surahs preceding the ones that the imam recited audibly?
ANSWER
Yes, he is allowed to recite that way.
Question: If a person enters the mosque after the jama’at has started a fard salat, what should he do if there is no room in the back row?
ANSWER
If the jama’at is in standing position, he should wait for a probable newcomer. If no one comes, he makes his way gently into the front row. If he cannot go into the front row, he gets someone he trusts in the front row to move back to the rear row with him. If there is no one he can trust, then he performs it alone. If the jama’at is in sitting position when he enters the mosque, he should stand alone, even if there is no room in the row before him.
Question: If a person has caught up with the imam in the second rak’at and has recited the prayer that begins with “Subhanakallahumma …,” should he recite it again after he stands up to complete salat?
ANSWER
He should recite it again because when completing salat individually after the salam of the imam, he should recite in an order as he would do if he were performing the first rak’at, then the second rak’at, and then the third rak’at.
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