Praise be to Allaah.

Shaykh Muhammad ibn ‘Uthaymeen (may
Allaah have mercy on him) said in al-Sharh
al-Mumti’:
When a person prays behind an imam, four
scenarios may apply:
1 – Anticipation (doing a movement before
the imam)
2 – Delay
3 – Doing an action simultaneously with the
imam
4 – Following



1 – Anticipation
This refers to the person doing one of the
essential parts of prayer before the imam,
such as prostrating or rising before the
imam, or bowing or rising from bowing
before him. This is haraam, and the
evidence for that is the words of the
Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be
upon him): “Do not bow until he bows, do
not prostrate until he prostrates.” The basic
principle is that the words “do not” indicate
that the action is haraam, and if someone
were to say that it is a major sin, that would
not be farfetched, because the Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him)
said: “Does the one who raises his head
before the imam not fear that Allaah may
turn his head into the head of a donkey, or
make his form like that of a donkey?” This is
a warning, and a warning is one of the signs
that a sin is a major sin.
Ruling on the prayer of one who anticipates
the imam:
If a person anticipates the imam knowingly,
aware of the ruling and of what he is doing,
then his prayer is invalid. But if he is
ignorant or forgot, then his prayer is valid,
unless that excuse ceased to exist before
the imam did that action, in which case he
has to go back and repeat what he did
before the imam, after the imam. If he does
not do that, knowing the ruling and aware of
what he is doing, then his prayer is invalid,
otherwise it is not.




2 – Delay
There are two kinds of delay in following the
imam:
(i) Delay for a reason
(ii) Delay without any excuse
The first kind is where there is a reason or
excuse. He has to make up what he delayed,
then he should follow the imam, and there
will be no blame on him, even if it is one or
two essential parts of the prayer. So if a
person is distracted or loses focus, or did
not hear the imam until the imam has done
one or two essential parts of the prayer
before him, then he should do the things
that he delayed in and then follow the
imam, unless the imam reaches the point
where he is [in the rak’ah], in which case he
should not make up the missing parts and
he should stay with the imam. Then one
rak’ah will be valid for him which is formed
from two rak’ahs of the imam, the rak’ah in
which he delayed and the rak’ah which the
imam reached the same point as him. An
example of that is:
A man was praying with the imam and the
imam bowed, rose, prostrated, sat up,
prostrated a second time and stood up, but
the person praying behind him did not hear
the loudspeaker except in the second
rak’ah, because the electricity cut out for
example. Let us assume that this was during
Jumu’ah prayer, so he heard the imam
reciting al-Faatihah, then the electricity cut
out, and the imam completed the first
rak’ah, but the person remained standing
thinking that the imam had not yet bowed in
the first rak’ah, then he heard him reciting
“Has there come to you the narration of the
overwhelming (i.e. the Day of
Resurrection)?” [al-Ghaashiyah 88:1 –
interpretation of the meaning].
We say: you should stay with the imam, so
the second rak’ah for the imam will be the
rest of the first rak’ah for you. Then when
the imam says the tasleem, you should
make up the second rak’ah. The scholars
said: so the person praying behind the imam
will have one rak’ah that is formed from the
two rak’ahs of his imam, because followed
the imam in part of the first and part of the
second.
If he realizes that he has lagged behind
before the imam reaches the same point [in
the second rak’ah], he should make it up
and follow the imam. For example:
A man is standing with the imam, and the
imam bows but he does not hear that he is
bowing. When the imam says “Sami’a
Allaahu liman hamidah [Allaah hears those
who praise Him – said when rising from
bowing], when the person praying behind
him hears that, we say to him: Bow and rise,
and follow your imam, and you will have
caught up with the rak’ah, because the delay
here was for a reason.
The second type is delaying with no excuse.
Delaying with regard to an essential part of
the prayer means lagging behind in
following the imam, but catching up with
him in the next essential part of the prayer.
For example, the imam bows when you still
have a verse or two left of the soorah you
are reciting, so you remain standing to
complete what you still have to recite, but
then you bow and catch up with the imam in
rukoo’. In this case the rak’ah is valid, but
your action goes against the Sunnah,
because what is prescribed is to start
bowing when the imam reaches the bowing
posture and not to lag behind, because the
Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be
upon him) said: “When he bows, then bow.”
Lagging behind in an essential part of the
prayer means that the imam is one step
ahead of you in the prayer, i.e., he bows and
rises before you bow. The fuqaha’ (may
Allaah have mercy on them) said: if you lag
behind in rukoo’ then your prayer is invalid,
just as if you did rukoo’ before the imam. If
you lag behind in sujood (prostration) then
according to what the fuqaha’ say your
prayer is valid, because it is lagging behind
in an essential part of the prayer other than
rukoo’.
But the correct view is that if a person lags
behind the imam in any essential part of the
prayer with no excuse, then his prayer is
invalid, whether that is in rukoo’ or any
other part of the prayer. Based on this, if
the imam rises from the first prostration
and this person who is praying behind him is
making du’aa’ in sujood and continues to
make du’aa’ until the imam prostrates for
the second time, then his prayer is invalid,
because he has lagged behind in an
essential part of the prayer. If the imam is
one step ahead of him, how can he then be
following him?




3 – Doing an action simultaneously with the
imam.
This refers either to word or actions, and
falls into two categories:
The first category is say words
simultaneously. This does not matter,
except in the case of the takbeerat al-
ihraam (saying “Allaahu akbar” to start the
prayer) and the salaam (at the end of the
prayer).
With regard to the first takbeer, if you say
takbeer before the imam has completed his
takbeerat al-ihraam, you have not entered
prayer in the first place, because it is
essential to say the takbeerat al-ihraam
after the imam has finished saying it
completely.
With regard to the salaam, the scholars said
that it is makrooh to say the first and second
salaam at the same time as your imam, but
if you say the first salaam after he has said
the first salaam and the second salaam after
he has said the second salaam, there is
nothing wrong with this, but it is better not
to say the salaam until the imam has said
both.
With regard to all other words of the prayer,
it does not matter if you say them
simultaneously with the imam, or before
him, or after him. If we assume that you
hear the imam reciting the tashahhud, and
you have already recited it, this does not
matter, because anticipating the imam in
the words of prayer, apart from the first
takbeer and the salaam, does not affect the
prayer. Similarly it does not matter if you
recite al-Faatihah before him and say Wa
laa’l-daalleen “nor of those who went
astray” [al-Faatihaah 1:7 – interpretation of
the meaning], whilst he is still reciting
Iyyaaka na’abudu wa iyyaaka nasta’een “You
(Alone) we worship, and You (Alone) we ask
for help (for each and everything)” [al-
Faatihaah 1:7 – interpretation of the
meaning], in Zuhr prayer, for example,
because it is prescribed in Zuhr and ‘Asr
prayer for the imam to let the people hear
the verse he is reciting sometimes, as the
Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of
Allaah be upon him) used to do.
The second category is to do the actions of
prayer simultaneously with the imam, and
this is makrooh.
For example, when the imam says “Allaahu
akbar” for rukoo’, and starts to bend
forward, and you start to bow
simultaneously with the imam, this is
makrooh, because the Messenger (peace
and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said,
“When he bows, then bow, and do not bow
until he bows.” And in sujood when he says
takbeer for sujood, if you prostrate and
reach the floor at the same time as him, this
is makrooh, because the Messenger (peace
and blessings of Allaah be upon him)
disallowed that and said, “Do nor prostrate
until he prostrates.”



4 – Following
Following is the Sunnah, and what it means
is that a person starts to do the actions of
prayer immediately after the imam starts
them, but without doing them at the same
time.
For example, when he bows, you bow, even
if you have not completed the recitation
that is mustahabb [recommended,
encouraged], and even if you have a verse
still to go, because that would mean that
you are lagging behind, so you do not
complete it. In sujood, when the imam rises
from his prostration, you follow the imam,
and your following him is better than your
remaining in prostration making du’aa’ to
Allaah, because your prayer is connected to
the imam, and you are now enjoined to
follow your imam.
Adapted from al-Sharh al-Mumti’, 4/275
The person who is praying behind an imam
should not move to the next posture of the
prayer until the imam has reached it, so he
should not start to go down for prostration,
until the imam has placed his forehead on
the ground.
Al-Bara’ ibn ‘Aazib said: When the Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him)
said, ‘Sami’a Allaahu liman hamidah’, none of
us would then bend our backs [to start
prostrating] until the Prophet (peace and
blessings of Allaah be upon him) went down
into prostration, then we would go down
into prostration after him. Narrated by al-
Bukhaari, 690; Muslim, 474.

Islamqa.com

Jazakallahu Khyran

Brings back memories of when I started attending taraweeh prayers.

Contact17:
Jazakallahu Khyran

Brings back memories of when I started attending taraweeh prayers.

LOOL..my sister..we sef kanjukanju dat year o.. Alhamdulillaah for the understanding of the deen diedie/small small!!!

But it is a thing of suprise o, wen u eta masajid now, u see men rushing like kids!! Allaahu musta'an.