Q:

Asalamu alaikum warrahmatullahi wabarakatuhu.

All praises to Allah swt and peace and blessings be upon prophet Muhammad saw.

Respected mufti

My question has two parts both regarding about salah.

As far as ist part is concerned i want to know about the rulings on missing rakahs of congregation. Suppose i came late to masjid and imam had already started and it was 2nd or 3rd rakah when i joined. What am i supposed to do. Should i consider it as my ist rakah or 2nd or 3rd rakah and in both cases what about secondary surahs of first two rakahs. Please clear my confusion.

Now moving to second part respected mufti what am supposed to do if a person walks before me while i am praying. Am i supposed to stop him by one hand or let him go.

    Thanking you. May Almighty Allah bless you in this world and hereafter.

Asalamu alaikum

A:

Wa `alaykum As-Salamu wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.

If you joined the congregational prayer in the 2nd Rak’ ah with the imam, you should consider that as your first Rak’ ah, and after doing another one, you need to sit for the middle Tashahhud if you are praying Zhuhr, Asr, Magrib or Isha. You may read a surah; you may also skip the surah and read Al-Fathiah only. If you joined in the second Rak’ ah, then also you need to do a middle Tashahhud after doing another Rak’ ah.

If a person walks before you, you should stop him. But do so gently and not engaging in a physical fight with him.

However, you need to indicate your own prayer space. The best way to do it is to place your Musalla so that the people can choose to walk outside the boundary of your prayer space. If you did not carry your Musalla and are prying alone, try to place something like a demarcation; in the mosque. Carpets with lines can also constitute proper demarcations.

Almighty Allah knows best.