Praying The Missed Prayer Whilst Congregation Are Praying Current Prayer

[Shehzad Sattar]

Question: A person who had missed Salaatul-Asar had come to the Masjid and found the congregation praying Salaatul-Maghrib. Should this person pray his missed prayer [Salaatul-Asar] before [Salaatul-Maghrib]?

Response: This person should firstly pray Salaatul-Maghrib with the Imam and then pray Salaatul-Asar; this is in agreement with the [position of most of the] Imams. However, with regards to having to repeat his Maghrib prayer again then there are two opinions regarding this:

The first opinion is that he will have to repeat his Maghrib prayer [for a second time] and this is the opinion of Ibn Umar, Mâlik, Abu Hanifah, and Imam Ahmed according to one famous narration transmitted from him.

The second opinion is that he will not have to repeat the Maghrib prayer and this is the opinion of Ibn Abbas, Shafee, as well as being another opinion of Imam Ahmed’s Madhab.

Allah has not made it incumbent upon His God-fearing slave [who fears Allah according to the best of his ability] to pray a prescribed prayer twice and so the second opinion is more correct. And Allah, the Most High, knows best.

Reference: Miscellaneous Issues from the Egyptian Fataawa, Jamiul-Masa’il of Ibn Taymiyah, The Fourth Series, Page 338, Edited by: Shaykh Uzayr Shams al-Hindee