4834 ruku catches rakah

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:

If I join in a Jama'at late, should I still start off with Thana (Subhanakallah Humma etc) or is it only required in the beginning?

If for some reason, you miss the invocations during the ruku in Jamat (i.e. you are too late going down and the Imam already say 'Sami Allah…..' etc, does that mean you have missed a rakah? What do you do in this situation?

(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:

Ruku catches rakah

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 no one (no idol, no person, no grave, no prophet, no imam, no dai, nobody!) 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: If I join in a Jama'at late, should I still start off with Thana (Subhanakallah Humma etc) or is it only required in the beginning?

The supplication/glorification one makes immediately after the ‘takbeer’ to signal the start of prayer in the first rakah is a Sunnah and supererogatory, and not an obligatory part of prayer like the recitation of Surah Fatihah, etc. Thus one who joins a congregation late may recite the supplication/glorification if he wills or abstain….it does not effect the validity of the prayer in the least.

Your Question: If for some reason, you miss the invocations during the ruku in Jamat (i.e. you are too late going down and the Imam already say 'Sami Allah…..' etc, does that mean you have missed a rakah? What do you do in this situation?

Fiqh-us-Sunnah Fiqh 2.54a

Whoever joins a congregation, he should perform the opening takbir while standing and then move directly to the act that the congregation may be performing, for instance, if the congregation is prostrating one should perform the opening takbir and then join it in the prostration. However, such a person is not considered as having performed the rak'ah unless he performs the ruku' (bowing) in congregation.

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 rak'ah]. And whoever 'catches' the ruku', he catches the salah."

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

If the ‘imam’ leading the congregation prayer has completed his ‘ruku’. raised his head and declared ‘Sameh Allaho leman hameda’, the one who joins the congregation at this stage should make the ‘takbeer’ and stand along with the congregation….but he would have deemed to miss that rakah which he should complete at the end of the prayer.

But if the ‘imam’ is still in the state of ‘ruku’ when one joins the congregation, and the worshipper is able to ‘catch’ the ‘ruku’ with the congregation, then he does not have to repeat that particular rakah again for the Messenger of Allah (saws) said: “whoever 'catches' the ruku', he catches the salah."

Whatever written of Truth and benefit is only due to Allah’s 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