• And I heard Ahmad—another time—say regarding a man who misses some of the prayer with the Imam: "He should consider what he catches as the beginning of his prayer."
• And I asked Ishaq, saying: "A man caught one rak'ah of the Dhuhr prayer with the Imam; how should he proceed, and what should he recite in what he caught with the Imam?" He said: "He should make what he caught with the Imam... (1), so he recites in the rak'ah he caught with the Imam the Hamd and a surah or a verse. Then when he stands, he recites the Hamd and a surah or a verse, then he sits, then he stands and recites in the remaining two rak'ahs the Hamd in every rak'ah."
856 - Ishaq narrated to us, saying: Muhammad ibn Shu'ayb informed us, from al-Nu'man ibn al-Mundhir, from Makhul, who said: "If the Imam precedes you in some of the prayer, then whatever you catch of it, make it the beginning of your prayer; you recite in its beginning the Mother of the Qur'an and a surah to yourself."
857 - 'Amr ibn 'Uthman narrated to us, saying: Baqiyyah ibn al-Walid narrated to us, saying: I asked al-Zubaydi about a man who catches the last two rak'ahs with the Imam; 'Do you see, when he stands to complete it, how much should he recite?' He said: 'He recites the Mother of the Qur'an and a surah equal to what he missed with the Imam.'
858 - As for al-Awza'i, he used to say: 'He recites the Mother of the Qur'an in them.'
859 - Baqiyyah said: 'And this is what we adopt.'
860 - Hisham ibn 'Ammar narrated to us, saying: 'Abd al-Malik ibn Muhammad al-San'ani narrated to us, saying: Thabit ibn 'Ajlan narrated to us, from Sa'id ibn Jubayr, from Ibn 'Abbas, who said: 'Whatever you catch with the Imam is the beginning of your prayer; recite in it the Opening of the Book and a surah.'
(1) The copyist left a small blank space and placed a mark over the blank; perhaps the completion is: 'the beginning of his prayer', and Ishaq's subsequent statement supports this.