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What is the ruling on the prayer of one who rises from bowing with the Imam or shortly after him? And is doing so disliked (makrooh) or forbidden (haraam)?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

Your prayer is valid, because synchronizing with the Imam in bowing (rukūʿ) and prostration (sujūd) is reprehensible (makrūh), not prayer-invalidating, and doubt does not affect it. The basic principle is that a Prophetic prohibition entails prohibition (taḥrīm), but it may be shifted to reprehensibility (karāhah) if there is a diverting factor. Scholars have differed regarding the ruling on synchronizing with the Imam: some held it to be prohibited based on the apparent meaning of the prohibition, while most inclined towards reprehensibility, reasoning that the Prophetic strictness was directed at out-pacing the Imam, not synchronizing with him, and that synchronizing does not entirely negate following, unlike out-pacing.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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