Answered by Shaykh Amjad Rasheed
If one comes late to the tarawih prayer, what should he do? Should he pray the obligatory `isha prayer with them, completing two rak`ahs after having prayed two with them? Or should he pray the obligatory `isha alone, or with a group of other people who are late and then join the group? In both cases, he won’t be able to pray the witr with them, so how should he pray that?
It is best that he not pray [s. the obligatory isha] behind the group, but rather pray that with other people in a group. Praying an obligatory prayer behind one praying a supererogatory prayer is khilaf al-awla (slightly disliked) in our school, and some have said that it is makruh. As for the witr prayer in Ramadan, it is best that one prays it in a group, so if one can make it, one should do so, and if not, then one should pray it alone.
Amjad Rasheed
[Translated by Sr. Shazia Ahmad]