Method Of Joining Prayers
Q. If one joins
the congregationnal prayer late (i.e.in 3rd or 4th rakah) what is the
proper way to complete the prayer? in Which rakah he has to recite a surah
and in which rakah he has to sit after Sajdah?
(Abdul
Sattar, Chicago)
A. A person who has not joined a prayer in the first rakah is called
a 'Masbuq'. He has to complete his prayer after the Imam has finished
his prayer. A 'Masbuq' has to observe the following rules while completing
his prayer :-
1. He should not make salam with his Imam ; rather as soon as Imam
completes his first Salam he should stand up to complete his prayer.
2. By completing his own prayer, a 'Masbuq' shall perform all the
acts of prayers in the same manner as he has to per-
form while praying individually.
3. In the matter of recitioan of surah he shall follow his own
number of rakah i.e. if he has missed two rakah with the Imam and has
stood up to complete these remaining rakah, he will have to recite surah
in both of them because these rakah will be deemed to be his first and
second rakah and his performance with the Imam will be deemed to be third
and fourth. Likewise, if he has missed three rakah and performed only
one rakah with the Imam, then while performing the remaining three rakah,
he will recite surah in the first two rakah only and will not recite in
the third.
4. However, in the matter of Qa'dah (sitting for Tashahhud), he
will follow the number of rakah he has actually perfor med whether with
the Imam or on his own. Therefore, if he has missed three rakah and has
performed only one rakah with the Imam, then he will have to sit for Qa'dah
right in the first rakah whike completing his own prayer, because this
is actually his second rakah as combined with the one performed with the
Imam, and since Qa'dah is obligatory after every two rakah he has two
make Qa'dah right there and he will not sit in the next rakah because
it is actually his third rakah.
In the light of aforesaid rules, if a person has missed three rakah and
joined only in the fourth rakah with the Imam, he will not follow the
Imam in his salam and will stand up to complete his remaining three rakah
and in the first rakah will recite surah and after completing sajdah he
will sit down to recite tashahhud, then he will rise up and will recite
the surah again. He will not sit in this second individual rakah. Then
in the third, he will not recite a surah and will sit down after sajdah
to complete his Tashahhud and salam.
I hope this will be enough to explain the way in which a 'Masbuq' has
to complete his prayer.
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