The ruling on a follower following an imam who is praying a voluntary prayer, and prostrating for forgetfulness in case of doubt
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner:
After this, a message was received by the program from one of the brother listeners. He says: Your brother in Allah, Alif 'Ayn. He asks and says: How should I act if I am praying two rak'ahs of the sunnah for the Maghrib prayer, and a person comes to pray behind me, becoming a follower while believing that I am praying the obligatory prayer? Perhaps his intention is to pray beside him, but he cannot pray behind him while he is waiting. That is how he wrote it.
The Shaykh:
Yes. No, because he is praying and he should pray beside him. Yes. Yes. The default in this is that the Muslim does not follow the prostrator, but rather he prays a voluntary prayer, following the action of Mu'adh (may Allah be pleased with him) during the time of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). He used to pray with the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), then he would leave and pray with his people, and he had a voluntary prayer and he had a place of prayer. This indicates the validity of the prostration of the prostrator, but rather he prays a voluntary prayer.
As for this person who came while you were praying a voluntary prayer before Maghrib and prayed behind you, and you continued praying Maghrib, this is considered a mistake. Even if he completed the prayer with you and finished the prayer, if you stood up and he came to complete the rest of the prayer, his prayer is valid. However, in this, he prayed before the iqamah of the congregation.
And it was better for him to pray with the congregation. So this means his action benefited in the sense that he intended to pray a voluntary prayer, but he erred in that he prayed before the congregation prayed. And perhaps it is permissible that the people may have already prayed, so this would be an excuse for him in that. As for his prayer itself, no, it is valid. May Allah reward you with good.
The questioner:
How should our brother act? The one who is the imam.
The Shaykh:
The imam does not act.
After this, a message was received by the program from one of the brother listeners. He says: Your brother in Allah, Alif 'Ayn. He asks and says: How should I act if I am praying two rak'ahs of the sunnah for the Maghrib prayer, and a person comes to pray behind me, becoming a follower while believing that I am praying the obligatory prayer? Perhaps his intention is to pray beside him, but he cannot pray behind him while he is waiting. That is how he wrote it.
The Shaykh:
Yes. No, because he is praying and he should pray beside him. Yes. Yes. The default in this is that the Muslim does not follow the prostrator, but rather he prays a voluntary prayer, following the action of Mu'adh (may Allah be pleased with him) during the time of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). He used to pray with the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), then he would leave and pray with his people, and he had a voluntary prayer and he had a place of prayer. This indicates the validity of the prostration of the prostrator, but rather he prays a voluntary prayer.
As for this person who came while you were praying a voluntary prayer before Maghrib and prayed behind you, and you continued praying Maghrib, this is considered a mistake. Even if he completed the prayer with you and finished the prayer, if you stood up and he came to complete the rest of the prayer, his prayer is valid. However, in this, he prayed before the iqamah of the congregation.
And it was better for him to pray with the congregation. So this means his action benefited in the sense that he intended to pray a voluntary prayer, but he erred in that he prayed before the congregation prayed. And perhaps it is permissible that the people may have already prayed, so this would be an excuse for him in that. As for his prayer itself, no, it is valid. May Allah reward you with good.
The questioner:
How should our brother act? The one who is the imam.
The Shaykh:
The imam does not act.
Source
نور على الدرب - الفوزان - 01/092 — archive.org (16:44)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.