A latecomer completes his prayer, then someone comes to pray behind him; is this valid?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner:
May Allah reward you, Your Eminence, the father. The questioner says: I prayed with a congregation in the mosque for the 'Asr prayer. I caught up with them for two rak'ahs, so I completed the remaining two rak'ahs. Then two men came in during that time and lined up behind me, so I became their imam. I completed the rest of my prayer with them, and they completed the rest of their prayer. Is my action in this valid?
The Shaykh:
By Allah, this is a matter for consideration and research. The situation where a follower becomes an imam without the imam appointing a substitute is a matter of research that requires careful consideration. Yes.
The presenter:
May Allah reward you, Your Eminence.
The Shaykh:
I say it is better to avoid this. Since they are two and they intended to pray in congregation, they are a congregation, and if they intended to pray in congregation, they are. Yes.
May Allah reward you, Your Eminence, the father. The questioner says: I prayed with a congregation in the mosque for the 'Asr prayer. I caught up with them for two rak'ahs, so I completed the remaining two rak'ahs. Then two men came in during that time and lined up behind me, so I became their imam. I completed the rest of my prayer with them, and they completed the rest of their prayer. Is my action in this valid?
The Shaykh:
By Allah, this is a matter for consideration and research. The situation where a follower becomes an imam without the imam appointing a substitute is a matter of research that requires careful consideration. Yes.
The presenter:
May Allah reward you, Your Eminence.
The Shaykh:
I say it is better to avoid this. Since they are two and they intended to pray in congregation, they are a congregation, and if they intended to pray in congregation, they are. Yes.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، مسبوق أكمل صلاته فجاء من يأتم به، فهل يصح هذا؟ للشيخ صالح الفوزان — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.