If a latecomer catches two rak'ahs of the prayer with the imam, how does he sit for the tashahhud?

Question : The questioner says: If the imam is ahead of me by two rak'ahs, and I join him, then when he sits for the final tashahhud, I will have prayed two rak'ahs. Do I sit for the first tashahhud, or do I sit for the final tashahhud following the imam?

Answer : I think this situation is well known. A latecomer arrives while the imam is in the third rak'ah and joins him in the third rak'ah, so he catches two rak'ahs with the imam. The imam sits for his final tashahhud, which for the follower is the first tashahhud. Do we say that when he sits here, he sits in the mutawakkiah position to match the imam's sitting, or does he sit in the iftirash position, because this is the place of his first tashahhud, and it is prescribed (mashru') for the first tashahhud that a person sit in the iftirash position? We say that in this case he sits in the iftirash position, because this sitting is the place of his sitting for the first tashahhud. However, if he catches the imam in the second or fourth rak'ah, he sits with the imam for the imam's final tashahhud in the mutawakkiah position, because this tashahhud was not obligatory upon him except to follow the imam, so this tashahhud is following the imam in its essence and its description. This is unlike the case where the imam's final tashahhud is the place of his first tashahhud, in which case he sits in the iftirash position.