Ruling on offering an obligatory prayer behind someone offering a voluntary prayer, and whether or not the imām should read audibly | Sheikh Muḥammad ibn Ṣāliḥ

O virtuous Sheikh: If a person is performing the Sunnah [after] Maghrib prayer and someone else enters joins him thinking that he is praying the obligatory prayer, should the imām recite out loud? Is reading aloud legislated, and is it legislated to pray in congregation in this case? According to the view of those who believe that it is not permissible for a person performing voluntary prayer to lead the one offering an obligatory prayer, it is not permissible for him to enter with him; because if he enters with him, his prayer is invalid. As for the most correct view: It is permissible for the imām to offer a voluntary prayer and the person praying behind him to offer an obligatory prayer, so there is no harm in him entering with him, and in that case he should recite out loud in order to facilitate implementation of the Sunnah for his brother who has joined with him. But if he remains silent, then there is no harm. _ Similar fatwa issues by the Lanka (18659) اقتداء المفترض بالمتنفل س: في يوم ما تأخرت عن صلاة الفجر، فذهبت إلى الجامع فلم أجد جماعة لأصلي معهم، فوجدت رجلاً يصلي سنة الفجر فصليت معه وهو لم يقرأ جهرًا أبدًا. فهل هذا صحيح أم يقرأ ولو كان يصلي السنة، وهل أعيد الصلاة لأنه لم يقرأ؟ ج :ما فعلته لا بأس به؛ لأنه يجوز اقتداء المفترض بالمتنفل؛ لأن معاذًا رضي الله عنه كان يصلي مع النبي ﷺ ثم يذهب ويصلي بأصحابه الفريضة، وهي نافلة له، ولو لم يجهر بالقراءة، فإن الجهر بالقراءة سنة في صلاة الفجر وصلاة الليل. وبالله التوفيق، وصلى الله على نبينا محمد وآله وصحبه وسلم.