then do not join him. The jurists have explicitly stated that if he joins him after the first salutation, his prayer is not valid and he must repeat it. This is because once the imam has given the first salutation, he has begun to exit the prayer; therefore, it is not valid for you to intend to follow him while he has begun to exit the prayer.

The second view is that one does not catch the congregation unless one catches a complete rak'ah. This was the view preferred by Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah, may Allah have mercy on him.

Its evidence is the Prophet’s saying, peace and blessings be upon him: “Whoever catches one rak'ah of the prayer has caught the prayer.” The explicit meaning of the hadith is that whoever catches one rak'ah of the prayer has caught the prayer; its implied meaning is that whoever catches less than that has not caught the prayer. Nor is it valid to draw an analogy between catching less than a rak'ah and catching a rak'ah, because catching a rak'ah is greater and more substantial than catching less than a rak'ah, and what is lesser cannot be analogized to what is greater and more substantial.

The evidence for it by analogy is that if one catches less than a rak'ah of the Friday prayer, he must complete it as a noon prayer and is not considered to have caught it. So what difference is there between the two cases of catching the prayer (1)?

A practical consequence of this is that if you come to a mosque and the imam has raised his head from bowing in the final rak'ah, while you know that you will catch another mosque from the beginning of the prayer, or that you will catch one rak'ah in the second mosque, then we say to you: Do not join this congregation, because you will catch