Support IslamQA

Please contribute generously in order to ensure the continuity of our website InshaAllah.

While praying sunnah prayer in mosque iqamah is called

04-07-1997

Question 39

What should one do if one is praying the sunnah prayer in the mosque and the iqamah is called?

Answer

Praise be to Allah.

If a person enters the mosque and is praying the sunnah while the iqamah is called, then the best opinion in this case is that if he is in his second rak‘ah, he should shorten it, and if he is in the first rak‘ah, he should just break his prayer and enter the congregation with the Imam1. The evidence for this comes from what Imam Muslim has narrated in his Sahih:

Prophet (peace be upon him) said: If iqamah is called for the prayer then there is no prayer except the obligatory one.

  (Sahih Muslim, 1/493)

So, if one has performed the ruku‘ for the second rak‘ah, then he should complete the prayer, and if not, then he should discontinue because what is left from his sujud and tashahhud is not needed any more. Moreover, he should break without salaam, and it is enough to have the intention in the heart, contrary to common misconception.

Voluntary Prayers
Show on Islam Q&A website.