Joining congregation late as a traveller, do I pray two units or complete the Imāms prayer

Question:

If a person caught up with the congregation, and the Imām was at the final Tashahhud, bearing in mind him being a traveller, does he make up four units of prayer or can he shorten the prayer?

Answer:

The differing in this topic is intense.

And that which is most correct, and Allah knows best, is:
That he doesn’t shorten the prayer, due to the generality of the statement of the Prophet ﷺ:

(وما أدركتم فصلوا وما فاتكم فأتموا)

“Pray whatever you caught up with, and complete what you have missed.”

The “ما” is a condition; generality of what is caught up with is understood from it, be it small or a lot.

And it has been authentically narrated from Abu Mijlaz that he said to Ibn ‘Umar:

“A traveller caught two units from the prayer of some people, will the two units suffice him or does he need to complete the four units?, whereby he laughed and replied:
He prays their prayer.”

And in ‘Sahih Muslim‘ that Nāfi’ said: Ibn ‘Umar when praying with the Imām prayed four, and when he prayed alone prayed two units.

And this has been declared to be most correct by the ‘Allāmah Ibn ‘Utheymīn, and the ‘Allāmah Al-Wādi’ī, may Allah have mercy upon them both, and likewise other than them.

Answered by:
Shaykh Abu Hatim Yusuf Al-‘Inaabi Al-Jazaa’iree – may Allah preserve him.

Source:
t.me/abouhatem/156

Answered on:
7th, Saffar, 1438H

Translated by:
Abu ‘Abdirrahman ‘Abdullaah bin Ahmed Ash-Shingaani