The Masbūq Acting as Imām | Shaykh Ibn Bāz

Q: A man entered the masjid after the Imām and the congregation had concluded their prayer with the final taslim. However, he found a masbūq (someone who had missed part of the congregational prayer) still completing his prayer. He stood beside him, intending to make the masbūq his imām in order to attain the reward of congregational prayer. Is this permissible—can the masbūq serve as an imām—and is the prayer performed by this man with the masbūq valid?1

A: If a person who got delayed for the congregational prayer (masbūq) enters the masjid after the people have finished praying and finds another person praying after having missed, it is prescribed for him to join that person in prayer, standing to his right, out of desire to attain the virtue of the congregational prayer.

The person being joined intends to act as the Imām, and there is no harm in this according to the more correct of the two scholarly opinions.

Similarly, if he finds someone praying alone after the Imām has concluded the prayer, it is prescribed for him to join that person, standing to his right, to secure the virtue of the congregation.

Once the masbūq or the one praying alone concludes the prayer with the final salutation (taslīm), the person who joined him stands up to complete the remainder of his own prayer; this is based on the general evidence regarding the virtue of congregational prayer and the established tradition of the Prophet ﷺ—who, upon seeing a man enter the masjid after the prayer had ended, said:

“Is there anyone who will be generous to this person by praying with him?”2

Source: https://binbaz.org.sa/fatwas/4733/امامة-المسبوق

Footnotes

  1. Published in Kitāb ad-Daʿwah (The Book of Calling to Allāh), Part 2, p. 117; and Majmūʿ Fatāwā wa Maqālat (Collection of Fatwās and Articles) of Shaykh Ibn Bāz, 12/148. ↩︎
  2. Narrated by Imam Ahmad in Bāqī Musnad al-Mukthirīn (The Remainder of the Musnad of the Most Prolific Narrators), no. 11380; and by Abū Dāwūd in Kitāb as-Ṣalah (The Book of Prayer) no. 487. ↩︎

إمامة المسبوق

س: دخل رجل المسجد بعد تسليم الإمام والمصلين، ولكنه وجد مسبوقًا يتم صلاته، فوقف بجانبه ليجعل المسبوق إمامًا له لينال ثواب الجماعة، فهل يجوز له ذلك، أم لا يكون المسبوق إمامًا، وهل الصلاة التي أداها هذا الرجل مع المسبوق صحيحة؟

ج: إذا دخل المسبوق المسجد وقد صلى الناس ووجد مسبوقًا يصلي[1]، شرع له أن يصلي معه ويكون عن يمين المسبوق حرصًا على فضل الجماعة، وينوي المسبوق الإمامة ولا حرج في ذلك في أصح قولي العلماء، وهكذا لو وجد إنسانا يصلي وحده بعدما سلم الإمام شرع له أن يصلي معه، ويكون عن يمينه تحصيلًا لفضل الجماعة، وإذا سلم المسبوق أو الذي يصلي وحده قام هذا الداخل فكمل ما عليه لعموم الأدلة الدالة على فضل الجماعة، ولما ثبت عنه ﷺ أنه لما رأى رجلًا دخل المسجد بعد انتهاء الصلاة قال: ألا رجل يتصدق على هذا فيصلي معه[2].

  1. نشرت في (كتاب الدعوة) الجزء الثاني ص (117). (مجموع فتاوى ومقالات الشيخ ابن باز 12/148).
  2. رواه الإمام أحمد في (باقي مسند المكثرين) برقم (11380) وأبو داود في (الصلاة) برقم (487).