to pray with him, then there is no harm in offering a voluntary prayer. Thus, if there are two mosques near you and you hear the iqamah from one of them, but wish to pray the regular sunnah prayer in order to pray in the other mosque, there is no harm in doing so.

Question: If a person passes by a congregational mosque where the Friday sermon is being delivered, and he does not intend to pray with them, may he speak while the imam is delivering the sermon, or may he not speak?

Answer: He may speak, because he does not intend to follow this imam. Likewise, if the second call to prayer is made in this mosque on Friday, while the mosque in which you intend to pray has not yet made the call to prayer, and you engage in buying or selling after the Friday call in the mosque where you do not intend to pray, then the sale or purchase is valid and lawful.

Whoever says the opening takbir before his imam’s salutation has caught the congregation ...........

His statement: “Whoever says the opening takbir before his imam’s salutation has caught the congregation.”

That is, if the follower says the opening takbir before his imam gives the first salutation, then he has caught the congregation in full.

The reason for this is that he has caught part of the prayer, and thus has the ruling of one who has caught the prayer—just as one who catches a rak'ah. Indeed, whoever catches one rak'ah has caught the prayer, according to the hadith of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him: “Whoever catches one rak'ah of the prayer has caught the prayer” (1).

His statement, “before his imam’s salutation,” refers to the first salutation, not the second. Hence, if you arrive while the imam has already given the first salutation