• Prayers: Friday sermon and greeting the mosque
It is said that when the imam delivers his sermon on Friday, all activity must come to a halt. What about a late comer offering two rak'ahs by way of greeting the mosque?
Scholars take different views on this particular question with one school of thought making a strict rule that once the sermon, or khutbah, has started, then it is not permissible to offer any prayer by any person. What is agreed to by all schools of thought is that once the sermon has started, no one who is already in the mosque may stand up to offer voluntary prayers. As for a late comer, he may offer his two rak'ahs in greeting the mosque immediately after he enters, and before he sits down. Once the Prophet was delivering the sermon when one of his companions entered and was about to sit down. The Prophet instructed him to offer two rak'ahs. As you realize, this prayer, i.e. greeting the mosque is voluntary. Therefore, if a person does not do it, he commits no sin. If he does it, he is rewarded.
• Prayers: Greeting the HaramUpon entering any mosque, we are recommended to offer two rak'ahs as a greeting to the mosque. However, some scholars suggest that one who arrives in the Grand Mosque in Makkah for Umrah should start with tawaf, which is also regarded as a greeting prayer. How far is this correct and when does it apply?
Offering two rak'ahs as a greeting to a mosque is not restricted to when you enter the Haram for prayers only. This applies anytime when you enter the Haram, whether you are performing the Umrah or the pilgrimage or just arriving for one regular prayer or sit in the mosque and read the Qur'an. Tawaf does not count as a greeting prayer, but it is the proper greeting of the Ka'aba. You perhaps realize that tawaf is a form of prayer which means that everything that applies to prayer applies to tawaf with the exception that it is permissible to talk during tawaf. In other words, you have to have ablution for tawaf and you better occupy your time with glorification of Allah and praising Him as well as praying Him for anything you wish. When you finish tawaf you are recommended to offer two rak'ahs as Sunnah of tawaf, and it is preferable to offer them behind the place known as Maqam Ibrahim.
• Prayers: Imam forgot to recite aloud for Maghrib prayer
The imam forgot to read aloud in the first rak’ah of Maghrib prayer. After starting the second rak’ah in the same fashion, i.e. reading in private, he was reminded by some of the worshippers, but he carried on in the same way. Did he do wrong? Should he have done differently? Should he have prostrated himself at the end to rectify his omission?
What the imam did at the end was right. He obviously forgot to recite aloud the parts of the Qur’an he was reading in his prayer, as he should have done in the first two rak’ahs. When he was reminded, it was too late to rectify the mistake. Even if he himself remembers before starting the second rak’ah that he should be reading aloud, he should carry on as he has started. In this way, he would offer the prayer in the same form.
This is the proper thing to do in these situations. If he is to change in mid-course, his prayer would have a mixture of two forms, which is not right.
If the imam offers two prostrations at the end of his prayers, the congregation should follow his lead and join him in these prostrations. That would be appropriate. If he does not do that, his prayer is correct and valid. The same applies to every one in the congregation.