If, however, he realizes—or even suspects—that he has omitted al-Fātiḥah after the imam has already bowed while he himself is still standing, he should recite it while lagging behind, for his delay is excused. Another view says that he should bow with the imam and make up the surah after the imam’s salām.

If the follower utters the opening takbīr (takbīr al-taḥrīm) before the imam, his own prayer does not start. Should he precede the imam in reciting al-Fātiḥah or the tashahhud, it does not harm him and is sufficient, although another opinion obliges him to repeat that recitation. If he goes ahead of the imam in an act such as bowing or prostrating and the lead equals two integral pillars, the prayer is invalid; if it is less than that, it is not. A secondary view declares the prayer invalid once he precedes the imam by even a single pillar.

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When the imam exits his prayer, the relationship of following is severed. If the imam has not exited yet the follower breaks off, that is permissible; one opinion, however, restricts this to an excuse that would allow him to leave the congregation, such as the imam’s excessive lengthening of the prayer or his omission of an intended sunnah like the tashahhud.

If a person begins the prayer alone and, while praying, decides to follow an imam, that is permissible according to the stronger position—even if the imam is in a different rakʿah. He then follows the imam, whether the latter is standing or sitting. Should the follower finish before the imam, he is treated like a latecomer: he may leave the imam, or he may wait and give salām with him.

Whatever a latecomer catches with the imam counts as the beginning of his own prayer, so in what remains he repeats the qunūt. If he catches one rakʿah of Maghrib, he performs the tashahhud in his second rakʿah. Reaching the imam while the latter is bowing counts as having caught that rakʿah—provided the follower achieves stillness before the imam rises from the minimum posture of bowing; Allah knows best. If he is unsure whether he met that minimum, the rakʿah is not counted according to the sounder opinion.

He pronounces one takbīr to enter the prayer and another for bowing. If he intends both actions with a single takbīr, the prayer does not commence—though another view validates it, and a third validates it only as a voluntary prayer. Should he intend nothing by the takbīr, the prayer is invalid according to the correct position.

If he joins the imam while the latter is in the upright position after bowing—or at any point thereafter—he moves with the imam, saying takbīr. The sounder opinion is that he follows the imam in both the tashahhud and the tasbīḥ recitations, and that one who finds the imam already in prostration does not utter an additional takbīr to enter that position.

When the imam gives salām, the latecomer rises with a takbīr if he was previously sitting; otherwise, according to the stronger view, he rises without an extra takbīr.