What Are the Rulings of a Latecomer in Prayer?

Answered by Ustadh Tabraze Azam

Question: Assalam alaykum

1. What is the ruling if, after the ‘imam’ completes the prayer and leaves and the follower is in the process of reading his missed rakahs, a third brother comes in and taps the shoulder of the follower to follow him in congragation?

2. Is it permissible to pray on friday if the Imam has already commenced his sermon?

3. If you arrive late and miss the 1 or both cycles of the friday prayer should you make up only 1 or 2 cycles or should you change your intention and make up 4 cycles as a normal Zuhr prayer?

Answer: Wa alaikum assalam wa rahmatullah,

1. It is not permissible for a latecomer (masbuq) to become an imam for any other person. This is because the latecomer is still legally considered to be a follower (muqtadi) of his imam, and followers cannot lead others.

2. No, you cannot speak nor pray from the moment the imam ascends the pulpit, for the sermon, until he completes the two cycles (rak`ats) of the Friday Prayer (jumu`ah).

3. If you catch the Friday Prayer before the imam gives the final, exiting salams, you are deemed to have caught it. Consequently, you would make up two missed cycles.

[Shurunbulali, Maraqi al-Falah with Tahtawi’s Gloss]

Please also see: Friday: Praying sunnas upon entering after the khutba starts and: If I Miss the Friday Khutba (Sermon), Is My Friday Prayer Valid? and: The Rulings Related to Friday Prayer

And Allah Most High alone knows best.

[Ustadh] Tabraze Azam

Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

Ustadh Tabraze Azam holds a BSc in Computer Science from the University of Leicester, where he also served as the President of the Islamic Society. He memorised the entire Qur’an in his hometown of Ipswich at the tender age of sixteen, and has since studied the Islamic Sciences in traditional settings in the UK, Jordan and Turkey. He is currently pursuing advanced studies in Jordan, where he is presently based with his family.