by Asma bint Shameem Then pray with the Imaam until he finishes and don’t leave the congregation until the prayer completely ends.
🌿 The Prophet sal Allaahu Alayhi wa sallam said:
"Whoever prays with the Imaam until he finishes, Allaah will record for him as if he spent the whole night in prayer" (al-Tirmidhi--saheeh by al-Albaani)
So if we stay with the Imaam and continue our prayers until he finishes the Salaah, we will have the reward of spending the whole night in prayer, even if we go home and sleep!
Subhaan Allaah!
And whoever left early, will only get the reward of whatever he prayed.
🍃 Someone asked Shaykh Ibn Baaz:
“If a person prays in Ramadhaan with someone who prays twenty-three rak'ahs, but he only prays eleven and does not complete the prayer with the Imaam, is this action of his in accordance with the Sunnah?”
He replied:
“The Sunnah is to complete the prayer with the Imaam....It is better for one who is praying behind an Imaam to stay with him until he finishes, whether he prays eleven rak'ahs or thirteen or twenty three or whatever.
That is preferable, to follow the Imaam until he finishes."
(Majmoo' Fataawa Ibn Baaz)
QUESTION❓
I want to stay till the end with the Imaam but I don’t want to read Witr with him.
I want to DELAY my Witr till just before Fajr.
So what to do?
ANSWER
Yes, it’s good to delay the Witr until the last part of the night.
There are many well-known ahaadeeth which encourage us to delay our Witr, and to make it the last prayer.
That is indeed a preferred thing to do.
🍃 For example, the Prophet sal Allaahu Alayhi wa sallam said:
"Make the last of your prayer at night Witr." (al-Bukhaari, Muslim)
🍃 And he sal Allaahu Alayhi wa sallam said:
"Night prayers are two by two, and when you feel that dawn is approaching, pray one rak'ah." (al-Bukhaari, Muslim)
So you want to follow this recommendation of the Prophet Sal Allaahu Alaiyhi wa Sallam and make Witr your last prayer of the night but you also want to get the reward of praying the whole night when you finish with the Imaam.
🔺How does one do that?
When the Imaam stands up to pray Witr, you should also stand up with him and join him in the prayer.
HOWEVER, at this time you should make your intention to pray MORE RAK’AAT of TARAAWEEH, although the Imaam would be having the intention of praying witr.
Then when the Imaam says salaam, you shouldn’t say salaam;
rather you should stand up and ADD a rakah to the Witr and make it an EVEN number.
This way you finish with the Imaam and you can then go home and pray as much Tahajjud as you want before Suhoor and then in the end, pray your witr so as to make it your last prayer of the night.
🍃 Shaykh Ibn Baaz was asked:
"When some people pray Witr with the Imaam and the Imaam says the salaam, they stand up and do another rak'ah so that their Witr will be at the end of the night. What is the ruling on doing this?
Is it regarded as finishing the prayer with the Imaam?"
He replied:
"We do not know of there being anything wrong with this.
The scholars stated that there is nothing wrong with doing that so that one will pray Witr at the end of the night.
It is still true that he has stood with the Imaam until he finishes, because he stayed with him until the Imaam finished, then he prayed an extra rak'ah for a legitimate shar'i purpose, so that his Witr will be at the end of the night.
There is nothing wrong with that, and that does not mean that he did not stay with the Imaam, rather he stayed with the Imaam until he finished, but then he did not finish with him, rather he delayed a little.”
(Majmoo' Fataawa Ibn Baaz)
Alhamdulillaah double rewards!
May Allaah enable us to worship Him sincerely and to the best of our abilities. Ameen.
And Allaah knows best.
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