Is a Rak‘ah Counted If Only Rukūʿ Is Caught? Evidence Review

Analysis of 16 Evidences Regarding the Rak‘ah of One Who Joins During Rukū‘


Source: Fatāwā ʿIlmiyyah, Volume 1, Kitāb al-Ṣalāh, Page 367

❖ Ruling on the Rakʿah of One Who Catches the Imam in Rukūʿ​

Question:
Does the Rakʿah count for one who joins the prayer while the Imam is in Rukūʿ?


Answer:
Al-ḥamdu lillāh, waṣ-ṣalātu was-salāmu ʿalā Rasūlillāh, Ammā Baʿd!


There are two scholarly positions on this issue:

✿ First Opinion: The Rakʿah is Counted if Rukūʿ is Caught​

Review of Their Evidences:​

① Ḥadīth: "مَن أدرَكَ الرَّكعةَ فقَد أدرَكَ الصَّلاةَ"​

Narration:
"If you arrive while we are in Sujūd, then perform Sujūd but do not count it, and whoever catches the Rakʿah has caught the prayer."
Sources: Abū Dāwūd, Ibn Khuzaymah: 1622, Ḥākim: 1/216, 273, 276, Dāraqutnī: 1/347 Ḥ1299, Bayhaqī: 2/88


Status of the Chain:
Narrator Yaḥyā ibn Abī Sulaymān is Munkar al-Ḥadīth

• Imām Bukhārī: "Munkar al-Ḥadīth" (Juzʾ al-Qirāʾah: 239)
• Ibn Khuzaymah: "The heart is not content with this chain." (Ṣaḥīḥ Ibn Khuzaymah: 3/57–58)

Comment:
This narration indicates the general act of catching prayer, not specifically regarding catching the Rukūʿ.

② Narration: "إذا جئتم والإمام راكع فإركعوا..."​

Bayhaqī’s Version:
Narrated via: ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Rufayʿ from a man from the Prophet ﷺ.
(Bayhaqī: 2/89)


Status of the Chain:
The narrator "a man" is unknown, not established as a Ṣaḥābī.
In another narration (Bayhaqī: 2/296), the phrase is "Shaykh from the Anṣār", who is also unknown. The narration is also Muʿanʿan.

③ Narration: "مَن أدرَكَ ركعة من الصلاة فقد أدرَكها قبل أن يقيم الإمام صلبه"​

Narrators:
Yaḥyā ibn Ḥamīd, Qurrāh ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, Ibn Shihāb, Abū Salamah, Abū Hurayrah


Comment:
Qurrāh ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān is weak according to the majority.
(Fatāwā al-Dīn al-Khāliṣ, Vol. 4, p. 218)

④ Statement of Ibn Masʿūd رضي الله عنه​

"Whoever does not catch the Imam in Rukūʿ has not caught that Rakʿah."
(Bayhaqī: 2/90)


Chain Status:
ʿAlī ibn ʿĀṣim is weak and criticized.
In another chain, Abū Isḥāq al-Sabīʿī is a Mudallis.

⑤ Fatwā of Ibn Masʿūd رضي الله عنه​

Sources: Ibn Abī Shaybah: 1/99, Ṭaḥāwī: 1/223, Bayhaqī: 2/90


Chain Status:
Chain is authentic, but it's a fatwā, not a marfūʿ narration.

⑥ Fatwā of Ibn ʿUmar رضي الله عنهما​

Source: Ibn Abī Shaybah: 1/243


Comment:
Weak due to Tadlīs of Ḥafṣ and Ibn Jurayj.
A weak supporting narration also found in Bayhaqī: 2/90.

⑦ Statement: "He only caught the Sujūd"​

Narrated from: Zayd ibn Thābit & Ibn ʿUmar رضي الله عنهم
(Bayhaqī: 2/90)


Chain Status:
Munqaṭiʿ — Imām Mālik did not mention an intermediary.

⑧ Contrary View from Imām Bukhārī:​

"It does not suffice unless you catch the Imam standing before he goes into Rukūʿ."
(Juzʾ al-Qirāʾah: 132)

⑨ Statement of Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī رضي الله عنه:​

"None of you should bow until he recites al-Fātiḥah."
(Juzʾ al-Qirāʾah: 133 — Authentic Chain)

⑩ Ibn al-Zubayr رضي الله عنه would join the row during Rukūʿ​

Source: Ibn Abī Shaybah: 1/256 Ḥadīth 2631


Comment:
Chain is weak due to Ibn Taymīm

⑪ Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq رضي الله عنه joined the row in Rukūʿ​

Source: Bayhaqī: 2/90


Comment:
Weak due to Tadlīs and disconnection from Abū Bakr ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān

⑫ Abū Bakr رضي الله عنه joined the Rakʿah by walking​

Source: Musnad Aḥmad: 5/42 Ḥ20435


Comment:
Weak due to Bashshār ibn ʿAbd al-Malik and disconnection in chain

⑬ Practice of Tābiʿīn:​

Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyib, Maymūn, al-Shaʿbī
(Source: Muṣannaf Ibn Abī Shaybah: 1/243–244)


Comment:
Rejected due to contradiction with Ṣaḥābah’s statements and Marfūʿ narrations

⑭ Ḥadīth: "Do not rush before me into Rukūʿ..."​

Source: Sunan Abī Dāwūd: 619 — Ḥasan chain


Comment:
Not a direct evidence for this issue, but some jurists used it
(ʿUmdat al-Qārī: 3/153)

⑮ Saying Two Takbīrs​

Narrators: ʿUrwah ibn al-Zubayr & Zayd ibn Thābit
(Ibn Abī Shaybah: 1/242)


Comment:
Weak due to Tadlīs of al-Zuhrī, thus not a valid proof

⑯ Practice of Abū ʿUbaydah and his father​

Source: Ibn Abī Shaybah: 1/255


Comment:
Munqaṭiʿ — Abū ʿUbaydah did not hear directly from his father

Narration:​

Narrators: ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Rufayʿ from Ibn Mughafal al-Muzanī
(Sources: Masāʾil Aḥmad wa Isḥāq: 1/127/1, al-Ṣaḥīḥah: 1188)


Comment:
Chain is disconnected in both cases

✿ Second Opinion: The Rakʿah Is​

Evidences:​

✔ Two obligatory elements are missed:
① Qiyām (Standing)
② Sūrat al-Fātiḥah

Ḥadīth:​

"There is no prayer for the one who does not recite Sūrat al-Fātiḥah."


Narration:
"Do not perform it except with the Mother of the Book, for there is no prayer for the one who does not recite it."
(Source: Kitāb al-Qirāʾah of al-Bayhaqī)


Chain Status:

• Nāfiʿ ibn Maḥmūd is reliable
• Declared trustworthy by: al-Dāraqutnī, al-Bayhaqī, Ibn Ḥibbān, Ibn Ḥazm, al-Dhahabī, and others

✔ View of Imām Bukhārī and other Prominent Scholars​

According to Imām Bukhārī and several great scholars, the Rakʿah of the one who catches only Rukūʿ is not valid.


For more details:
Refer to the treatise of Mawlānā Muḥammad Munīr Qamar (ḥafiẓahullāh):
"Rakʿah Caught During Rukūʿ — Analysis of Both Sides’ Evidences"
(Māhnāmah al-Ḥadīth, Issue 30, 26 Rajab 1427 AH)

Conclusion:​

There exists a difference of opinion on the issue of whether the Rakʿah is valid for one who catches only the Rukūʿ. However, in light of authentic evidences, the second opinion appears stronger:
If a person misses both Qiyām and Sūrat al-Fātiḥah, that Rakʿah will not be counted.


ھذا ما عندي، والله أعلم بالصواب