reciting as his imam recites—silently when the prayer is silent and aloud when it is audible—and he rises to complete it without saying the takbīr; should he pronounce it, there is no harm. Whoever has missed two rakʿahs rises with a takbīr, except in Maghrib, for if he has missed two of its rakʿahs he stands without a takbīr, as I have already explained, yet even then, were he to say the takbīr his prayer would not be invalid. Likewise, if someone who has caught two rakʿahs of Zuhr, ʿAsr, or ʿIshāʾ stands without a takbīr, his prayer is still sound, although it is better in this case that he stand with the takbīr.

When a follower has missed part of the prayer, he must enter the state of consecration while standing, uttering a takbīr by which he intends to join the prayer, and then move into whatever posture the imam is in—bowing, standing, or sitting. If he finds the imam seated at the end of the prayer, he may choose whether or not to join, but I prefer that he join, in light of the Messenger of Allah’s statement: “Whatever you manage to catch, pray.” No one is permitted to follow his imam in something he knows to be an addition to the prayer. If, after being reminded by tasbīḥ, the imam does not correct himself, the follower should remain seated until the imam finishes and give the salām with him; according to Mālik, this is better than leaving the imam and giving salām on his own—provided the addition is not excessive and the wait unduly long. This ruling applies when the follower is certain the imam is mistaken; if they are merely in doubt, they must continue to follow him, whereas if they are sure, each worshipper builds on his own certainty.

It has also been said that if the congregation is large and unanimous, the imam is obliged to return to them. Anyone who deliberately follows his imam in something he knows to be wrong invalidates his own prayer. If a person finds the imam seated at the end of his prayer and joins with a takbīr, then once the imam has given the salām the iqāmah is waived for him, and he builds upon the takbīr with which he entered. But if he did not begin with a takbīr, he must repeat the iqāmah after the imam has given the salām.