in it, like one who is not a masbuq. Al-Athram narrated with his chain of authority from Ibrahim, who said: Jundab and Masruq came to the mosque while they had already prayed two rak'ahs of the Maghrib, so they entered the row. Jundab recited in the rak'ah that he caught with the Imam, while Masruq did not recite. When the Imam gave the salutation, they stood for the second rak'ah. Jundab recited and Masruq recited, and Masruq sat in the second rak'ah while Jundab stood. Masruq recited in the third rak'ah, and Jundab did not recite. When they completed the prayer, they went to Abdullah and asked him about that and told him the story. Abdullah said: 'He should do as Masruq did.' Abdullah also said: 'If you catch a rak'ah of the Maghrib, then sit in all of them.' Whatever he does of that is permissible, if Allah the Almighty wills. For this reason, Abdullah did not rebuke Jundab for his action, nor did he order him to repeat his prayer.

Section: If he divides them into two groups in a four-rak'ah prayer, praying three rak'ahs with the first and one rak'ah with the second, or one rak'ah with the first and three with the second, the prayer is valid because he did not exceed two waiting periods for which the law (Shari'ah) has prescribed the like. Al-Shafi'i said this as well, except he said: 'He prostrates for forgetfulness (sujud al-sahw).' There is no need for that because prostration is for forgetfulness, and there is no forgetfulness here. Even if one were to assume he did it out of forgetfulness, he would not need to prostrate because it is an act whose intentional performance does not invalidate the prayer, so he does not prostrate for his forgetfulness, just as if he raised his hands in a place other than where raising is [required] and omitted raising them in the [proper] place. As for if he divides them into four groups, praying one rak'ah with each group, or into three groups, praying two rak'ahs with one of them and one rak'ah with the remaining ones, the prayer of the first and second groups is valid because they followed one whose prayer is correct, and nothing occurred from them that would invalidate their prayer. The Imam's prayer is invalidated by the third waiting period because it was not transmitted from the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), so he added a waiting period for which the law has not come, and thus his prayer is invalidated by it, just as if he had done it