Jami` at-Tirmidhi 583

Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.

Qutaybah told us: Hammad ibn Zayd told us, from Amr ibn Dinar, from Jabir ibn Abdullah, that Muadh ibn Jabal used to pray the sunset prayer with the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, then return to his people and lead them in prayer. Abu Isa said: This hadith is hasan sahih. Our scholars al-Shafii, Ahmad, and Ishaq acted upon this, saying that if a man leads people in an obligatory prayer after having already prayed it, the prayer of those following him is valid. They cited the sound hadith of Jabir about the incident of Muadh, which is narrated through more than one route from Jabir. It is narrated that Abu al-Darda was asked about a man who entered a mosque while people were praying the afternoon prayer, thinking it was the noon prayer, and joined them. He said his prayer was valid. Some scholars of Kufa said that if people follow an imam who is praying the afternoon prayer while they think it is the noon prayer, their prayer is invalid because the imam and followers have different intentions.