Mu' meneen Brothers and Sisters,

As Salaam Aleikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh. (May Allah's Peace, Mercy and Blessings be upon all of you)

One of our brothers/sisters has asked this question:

Dear Bro. Thank u V. much for your yeoman service, may Allah subhanawataAala, accept & reward u for that. i need a small clarification about "Offering missed Rakah's of Namaaz, while joining the jama'h , while the Namaaz is in progress"

 
Ex. If joined the Namaaz in the last rakah with  Imaam, of a Maghreb Nmaaz.

 
in this situation does one has to offer the missed two rakah's , together with a surah after Alhamd, or what is the correct procedure. Please enlighten.

 
Thank u v. much

Jazakallah khair.

(There may be some grammatical and spelling errors in the above statement. The forum does not change anything from questions, comments and statements received from our readers for circulation in confidentiality.)

Answer:

Missed rakah in prayer

In the name of Allah, We praise Him, seek His help and ask for His forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides none can misguide, and whoever He allows to fall astray, none can guide them aright. We bear witness that there is none worthy of worship but Allah Alone, and we bear witness that Muhammad (saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of His Messengers.

Your Question: .Ex. If joined the Namaaz in the last rakah with  Imaam, of a Maghreb Nmaaz. in this situation does one has to offer the missed two rakah's , together with a surah after Alhamd, or what is the correct procedure. Please enlighten.

Abu Hurairah reports that the Messenger of Allah (saws) said: "If you come to the salah and we are in sajdah, then make sajdah with us but do not count it [as a rakah]. And whoever 'catches' the ruku', he catches the (rakah of) salah."

Related by Abu Dawud, Ibn Khuzaimah, and al-Hakim.

If one happens to join a Magrib prayer in congregation and catches only the last (or third) rakah of the prayer, one should follow the imam leading the prayer until he declares the tasleem to end his prayer, then stand up and complete the number of rakahs one has missed for that particular prayer.

Thus if one catches the last (or third) rakah of the Magrib prayer, that would be considered ones first rakah. After the declarations of the tasleems of the imam, one should

• stand up, pray one rakah and recite Surah Al-Fatihah and another Surah, (and this rakah would be counted as the second rakah of their Magrib prayer)
• then sit down and offer the small tashahud
• then stand up and offer another rakah reciting only the Surah al-Fatihah in it; and this would be their third and last rakah of their Magrib prayer.

Whatever written of Truth and benefit is only due to Allahs Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error is of me alone. Allah Alone Knows Best and He is the Only Source of Strength.

Your brother and well wisher in Islam,

Burhan