Was it part of his way (peace and blessings be upon him) to delay rising from the bowing so that those who were late could catch up?

The questioner : All right, his way (peace and blessings be upon him) was to delay the bowing or to be deliberate in the bowing so that the latecomer in the prayer could catch up. For example, if he was in the bowing and heard a sound or a thud or the sound of a man coming, was it part of his way (peace and blessings be upon him) to delay in the bowing to make room for the latecomer to catch up and catch the rak'ah?

The Shaykh : There is a hadith, but its chain of narration is not authentic. It states that the Messenger (peace be upon him), when he was bowing and heard the sound of footsteps, would prolong the bowing so that they could catch up. But this hadith is not authentic in its chain of narration. Therefore, the issue remains open after the hadith is found to be inauthentic, because if it were authentic, it would have settled the discussion and removed the dispute. But since it is not authentic, the issue falls under the scope of research and independent legal reasoning, and the jurists have differed on this matter. Some permit it, and some forbid it. Those who permit it observe that it helps the one entering the prayer to obey Allah the Exalted, and this is undoubtedly good. As for those who forbid it, they observe that one who is in prayer is not supposed to look at such things, because he should be fully focused on Allah Blessed and Exalted is He. Some have stated a detailed ruling: if the imam knows who the person entering is, then there is a fear that the matter falls under the category of showing off in worship; but if he does not know, it falls under the category of cooperating in righteousness and piety. These are the opinions stated in the books of Islamic jurisprudence. And what I see is that there is no harm in it, whether the person entering is known to him or not, if his intention is for Allah Blessed and Exalted is He, meaning to help this person entering to obey. As for what some of those who forbid it rely on, claiming that the one praying should be focused on Allah, this statement does not align or agree with many texts of the Sunnah. We know, for example, that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) would enter the prayer with Ummamah, the daughter of Zaynab, the daughter of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), on his shoulder. Also, once he prolonged the prostration in some of the rak'ahs of the 'Asr prayer, a prolongation his Companions had not seen from him before, until it occurred to some of those praying behind him that perhaps the Messenger (peace be upon him) had died while prostrating. So they raised their heads from prostration to look at the Messenger (peace be upon him), and they saw a strange sight: they saw the Messenger prostrating, and al-Hasan or al-Husayn was riding on him. The man was reassured that the Messenger was not dead, because if he were dead, he would have slumped. So he returned to his prostration. After he finished the prayer, they said, "O Messenger of Allah, you prostrated in the middle of your prayer a prostration that you prolonged." He (peace be upon him) pointed to al-Hasan or al-Husayn and said, "My son was riding me," meaning he took him as a mount, meaning a camel. "My son was riding me, and I disliked to rush him." What are we doing today? We put all the roughness and harshness on this child until what do we do to take him off our backs? They claim that this claim aligns with the opinion we mentioned earlier, that you are now praying, prostrating to Allah, how can you bear the riding of a child or a grandson or a boy? Some people interpret it this way. But the best of guidance is the guidance of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him). So he (peace be upon him) intentionally prolonged the prostration out of kindness to this child. So we conclude that if the one praying notices something that has a benefit, and this thing is not related to playing with the prayer, we can say that this is permissible in the prayer, or at the very least, that it does not contradict the prayer. In Sahih al-Bukhari, it is narrated that a man from his Companions (peace be upon him) was praying in this place, and he had the reins of a horse in his hand. It appears the horse was restless, meaning it was not calm. So he was praying with the reins in his hand, and it was struggling with him, pulling him, and he was walking with it, meaning he was letting it go, and he kept walking with it until he finished the prayer. So considering the interests of the Muslims during the prayer, this does not contradict the prayer; rather, it may be part of the perfection of the prayer. The following conclusion: It is permissible for the imam to prolong the bowing so that the one entering can catch the rak'ah by catching the bowing. Is that clear? Bring another question.