How does one who joins the prayer late make up what he missed?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : How can a person imagine a situation like that of one who joins the prayer late in two rak'ahs of the midday prayer, or in a four-rak'ah prayer, where he is with the imam... How can you imagine this, O Shaykh? One cannot imagine this...
The Shaykh : What he catches up with the imam are the first two.
The questioner : But I mean, I spoke about some people...
The Shaykh : Some people say, "I did not catch up with the imam in the last two."
The questioner : How can you imagine this, O Shaykh?
The Shaykh : You imagine entering and saying, "I seek refuge in Allah from the accursed Shaytan. Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds," and you restrict yourself to al-Fatihah. And when you stand to make up the missed portion, you begin with the opening takbir and recite al-Fatihah and a surah. That means the prayer is inverted. I say the prayer is inverted, do you understand? As for the stronger opinion, the prayer remains as it is, not inverted, and what you catch up with is the beginning of your prayer. Accordingly, if you are able to recite a surah after al-Fatihah, then recite it.
The Shaykh : What he catches up with the imam are the first two.
The questioner : But I mean, I spoke about some people...
The Shaykh : Some people say, "I did not catch up with the imam in the last two."
The questioner : How can you imagine this, O Shaykh?
The Shaykh : You imagine entering and saying, "I seek refuge in Allah from the accursed Shaytan. Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds," and you restrict yourself to al-Fatihah. And when you stand to make up the missed portion, you begin with the opening takbir and recite al-Fatihah and a surah. That means the prayer is inverted. I say the prayer is inverted, do you understand? As for the stronger opinion, the prayer remains as it is, not inverted, and what you catch up with is the beginning of your prayer. Accordingly, if you are able to recite a surah after al-Fatihah, then recite it.