Sayyiduna Mu’adh bin Jabal (may Allah be pleased with him) says: In the time of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), when someone missed part of the prayer, he would come and ask (the earlier worshippers) how many rak‘ahs had been performed; they would indicate to him, then he would begin by performing the missed rak‘ahs and then join the congregation with the people. One day it happened that I (Mu’adh) came and the people were sitting in (the tashahhud of) the prayer, so I also sat down. When the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) finished, I stood up and performed the rak‘ahs that I had missed. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Just as Mu’adh has done, you should do the same in the future.

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Mughirah bin Shu’bah (may Allah be pleased with him), he says: I lagged behind with the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) during the expedition of Tabuk. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) went to relieve himself, then returned to me. I had a small vessel with me, so I poured water over the hands of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). Then the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) poured water and cleaned his nose. Ya’qub, the narrator, said: Then the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) rinsed his mouth, after that he washed his face three times. Then the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) wanted to wash his arms without taking his hands out of the sleeves of his cloak, but the sleeves were tight, so the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) took his hands out from inside the cloak and first washed the right hand three times and then the left hand three times. Then he wiped over his socks and did not remove them. Then both of them came to the people, but what did they see? The people had put forward Sayyiduna Abdur Rahman bin Awf (may Allah be pleased with him), and he was leading them in prayer. Since the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) caught one rak’ah with them, he performed the second rak’ah with Sayyiduna Abdur Rahman. When he (Abdur Rahman) finished the prayer with salam, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) stood up to complete his prayer. Seeing this, the Muslims became anxious and began to say tasbih abundantly. When the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) completed his prayer, he turned to them and said: You have done very well and acted correctly. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) was admiring the Companions that they had performed the prayer at its earliest time.

(Second chain of narration, Sayyiduna Mughira (may Allah be pleased with him) said:) Then we joined the people and saw that the prayer had been established and Sayyiduna Abdur Rahman bin Awf (may Allah be pleased with him) was leading them in prayer and he had already performed one rak'ah. I was about to go and inform him about you (the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him), but you (peace and blessings be upon him) forbade me. So we performed as much of the prayer as we caught, and whatever was left, we completed it afterwards. In another narration it is stated: Whatever rak'ah we caught, we performed it, and whatever rak'ah was left, we completed it (afterwards).

(Third chain of narration, similarly the hadith is narrated, according to which Sayyiduna Mughira (may Allah be pleased with him) said:) So when we reached the people, Sayyiduna Abdur Rahman bin Awf (may Allah be pleased with him) had already led them in one rak'ah. When he sensed the presence of the Noble Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), he began to step back, but the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) signaled to him to complete the prayer, and (later) said: You did well, do like this.