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Fatwa CenterInterrupting an obligatory prayer to join the congregation
Question
As-salamu alaykum. Dear sheikh, I was in a shopping complex when the adhan for the salah was given. I went to the designated prayer room within the complex and waited for a jama'ah to form. No jama'ah took place so I started to pray the fard prayer on my own. As I was praying, other people arrived and formed a jama'ah. Should I have interrupted my prayer to join them or completed the prayer alone even while the jama'ah was taking place? Jazakallah khayr.
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad 
is His slave and Messenger.
You were not obliged to interrupt the obligatory prayer which you had started to perform in order to catch up with the congregational prayer. The scholars 
differed in opinion about this matter. The predominant opinion is that he is permitted to change his intention from performing an obligatory prayer to performing a supererogatory prayer, in which case, he completes two Rak'ahs and then joins the congregation (for the obligatory prayer); changing one’s intention from performing an obligatory prayer to a supererogatory prayer is desirable so that he would perform the obligatory prayer with the congregation. However, if he was in the first Rak’ah and fears to miss the congregation if he waits until concluding the second Rak’ah, then it is better for him to interrupt it in order to catch up with the congregation, –as stated by the notable scholar, Ibn 'Uthaymeen 
– who stated that it is not forbidden to interrupt the obligatory prayer in such a situation because it is interrupting a prayer for something better and more beneficial (joining the congregational prayer). This is indeed a sound and strong reasoning.
Allaah Knows best.
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