How Should One Join the Congregational Prayer in Progress?
✍ Written by: Imran Ayub Lahori
If a person arrives while the congregational prayer is already in progress, he should immediately join the prayer in whatever position he finds the Imam, whether it is standing, bowing, or prostrating. Standing behind and wasting time in unnecessary actions or conversations is incorrect.
It is narrated from Sayyiduna ʿAli رضي الله عنه that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
إذا أتى أحدكم الصلاة والإمام على حال فليصنع كما يصنع الإمام
"When any one of you comes to prayer and finds the Imam in any position, he should do as the Imam is doing."
[Ṣaḥīḥ: al-Ṣaḥīḥah: 1188, Tirmidhī: 591, Book of Jumuʿah: Chapter on the Mention of a Man Who Finds the Imam in Prostration—What Should He Do]
✔ Summary:
✍ Written by: Imran Ayub Lahori
❀ Joining the Congregational Prayer in Progress ❀
If a person arrives while the congregational prayer is already in progress, he should immediately join the prayer in whatever position he finds the Imam, whether it is standing, bowing, or prostrating. Standing behind and wasting time in unnecessary actions or conversations is incorrect.
✿ Hadith of Sayyiduna Ali رضي الله عنه
It is narrated from Sayyiduna ʿAli رضي الله عنه that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
إذا أتى أحدكم الصلاة والإمام على حال فليصنع كما يصنع الإمام
"When any one of you comes to prayer and finds the Imam in any position, he should do as the Imam is doing."
[Ṣaḥīḥ: al-Ṣaḥīḥah: 1188, Tirmidhī: 591, Book of Jumuʿah: Chapter on the Mention of a Man Who Finds the Imam in Prostration—What Should He Do]
✔ Summary:
- Join the Imam in whatever posture he is in.
- Do not delay by standing back or engaging in unnecessary actions.
- Follow the Imam exactly as instructed in the Hadith.
