Answered by SunniPath Answer Service Team
If you pray behind imam, follow him and pray as he prayers. But then if the imam is shortening his prayer because he is a traveller why must you pray four rakats behind him?
[Answered by Raheela Maniar]
Assalamualaikum,
InshaAllah all is well.
One who prays with an imam intends to follow him. One aspect of following is that his prayer must be at least as long as the imam. Also when a muqeem, resident, intends to pray the same prayer with an imam who is travelling, both fulfill the obligations of that prayer in variant ways.
It is wajib upon a traveller to shorten his prayer and it is fard upon the resident to pray in full when at home. So if both are praying ‘Asr together, and the traveller is the imam, he would then shorten his prayer as fullfilment of his prayer requirement, and the muqueem would pray the entire 4 rak’aas. In this situation the resident is considered to have followed the imam.
The method of performing prayer in such a situation is as follows:
According to Mukhtasar al-Quduri: “When a traveller leads residents in two rak`ah, he performs taslim, and then the residents complete their salah. It is recommended for him, when he performs taslim, to say, ‘Complete your salah, for we are journeying people.”
This should be mentioned before the prayer according to Nur al- Idaah.
In Heavenly Ornaments it states that the resident who is following an imam who is travelling does not perform the recitation and, rather, remains silent in the 3rd and 4th rakaas.
Why does does the traveller have to pray in full when following a resident imam?
If one stops praying before the imam, then he would not be following the imam. If there were only two people praying and the travller stopped praying before the resident imam, he would invalidate the imamate of the resident since one has to lead someone to qualify as an imam. If a traveller prays behind a resident the extra rakaas which were not incumbent upon him would be considerd nafl.
May Allah Most High correct our faults.
wassalaam,
Raheela Maniar
Approved by Faraz Rabbani