took place in the very first cycle, then—if he believes he can reach the imam before the imam lifts his head from the second (i.e., last) prostration of that cycle—let him bow and catch up with him. If he cannot, that unit is not counted for him and he must make it up once the imam finishes.
The sole exception is the Friday congregational prayer: no one may continue with the imam in its first cycle except someone who actually bowed with him. Anyone who missed the bowing is not to follow the imam, even if he joins him before the imam completes the prostrations of that cycle. This ruling applies to Friday alone, for it enjoys a sanctity that other prayers do not. Such is the report transmitted by Ibn ʿAbd al-Ḥakam and others, although strict analogy would treat Friday and other prayers alike.
On this point Mālik and his companions hold three opinions:
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The worshipper may bow and prostrate after the imam and continue with him, provided he completes both acts before the imam rises for the second cycle—that is, before the imam raises his head from the final prostration of the first. This is the view I adopt.
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Because he missed the bowing, that cycle is void and he must make it up later, just as in the Friday prayer.
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He may still bow and prostrate, following the imam, so long as the imam has not yet lifted his head from the bowing of the second cycle.
If the late-comer forgets to prostrate, there are two further opinions: (a) he may still prostrate and follow the imam so long as the imam has not settled fully into the second cycle; or (b) he may do so only until the imam has lifted his head from the bowing of the second cycle.
If an imam, during ẓuhr or another four-cycle prayer, appoints a deputy after completing two cycles—and that deputy had not yet joined the prayer except by pronouncing the opening takbīr before the imam’s state of minor impurity—then the deputy leads the congregation for two cycles and sits with them in the fourth. When the original imam returns and informs him that one prostration is still missing from one of the first two cycles, and the congregation are certain that each of those two cycles had indeed been performed with both required prostrations,