in its entirety on his own. Thus, he has not caught anything with the imam that counts towards his prayer. He and the imam have therefore not shared any part of the prayer that counts for him, so his entire prayer is that of someone praying alone.

This is clarified by the fact that he catches a rak'ah only if he catches the imam bowing. If he joins him after bowing, what he performs with him does not count towards that rak'ah, even though he has joined him in standing after bowing, prostrating, and sitting between the two prostrations. Since he has missed the greater part of the rak'ah—standing and bowing—he has missed the rak'ah. How, then, can it be said that he has caught the congregational prayer when he has not caught anything with the congregation that counts towards his prayer?

Catching the prayer by catching a rak'ah is analogous to catching a rak'ah by catching the bowing, for in both cases he has caught something that counts towards his prayer. If he has not caught a rak'ah of the prayer, he is like someone who has missed bowing with the imam and has therefore missed the rak'ah: in both cases, he has not caught anything that counts towards his prayer. This is among the soundest forms of analogy.

(Sixth:

A consequence of this is that if a traveller follows a resident imam and catches one rak'ah or more with him, he must perform the prayer in full. If he catches less than a rak'ah with him, he offers it in its shortened form. Imam Ahmad explicitly stated this in one of the two reports transmitted from him. This is because, by catching a rak'ah, he has followed a resident imam in part of his prayer and must therefore complete it in full. If he has not caught a rak'ah with him, his prayer is that of someone praying alone, so he offers it in its shortened form.