Muaz bin Jabal came to us in Yemen as the envoy of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. I heard his takbir at dawn. He was a man with a rough, husky voice, and my heart was drawn to him in love. I did not part from him until I buried him in Syria after his death.Then I looked for the most knowledgeable person remaining after him in matters of jurisprudence, so I came to Ibn Masud and stayed close to him until he died. He said, "The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said to me, 'How will you fare when you have rulers over you who pray the prayer outside its proper time?'I asked, 'Messenger of Allah, what do you command me to do if I live to see that?'He replied, 'Pray the prayer at its proper time, and let your prayer with them be a voluntary one.'"
قدم علينا معاذ بن جبل اليمن رسول رسول الله ﷺ إلينا قال: فسمعت تكبيره مع الفجر رجل أجش الصوت، قال: فألقيت عليه محبتي. فما فارقته حتى دفنته بالشام ميتا، ثم نظرت إلى أفقه الناس بعده، فأتيت ابن مسعود فلزمته حتى مات، فقال: قال لي رسول الله ﷺ: كيف بكم إذا أنت عليكم أمراء يصلون الصلاة لغير ميقاتها؟ قلت: فما تأمرني إن أدركني ذلك يا رسول الله؟ قال: صل الصلاة لميقاتها، واجعل صلاتك معهم سبحة.
Reported by Abu Dawud (432) from Abdul-Rahman bin Ibrahim, Duhaym al-Dimashqi, who said, Walid narrated to us, Uzai narrated to us, Hassan bin Atiya narrated to me, from Abdul-Rahman bin Sabit, from Amr bin Maymun, and he mentioned it. Its chain is sahih. Walid is Ibn Muslim al-Qurashi, who is trustworthy, though he used to practice tadlis al-taswiya (concealing a weak link by smoothing the chain). However, he explicitly stated that he narrated directly, which removes any suspicion of tadlis.Ibn Hibban (1481) also graded it sahih, reporting it from Abdullah bin Muhammad bin Salm, who said, Abdul-Rahman bin Ibrahim narrated to us, with the same wording.Nasai (779) reported it from Ubaydullah bin Saeed, and Ibn Majah (1255) from Muhammad bin Sabbah, both of whom said, Abu Bakr bin Ayyash narrated to us, from Asim, from Zirr, from Abdullah bin Masud, who said, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, "You will likely encounter people who pray at other than its proper time. If you come upon them, then pray in your homes at the time you know to be correct, then pray with them, and count that as an additional voluntary prayer."Ibn Khuzayma (1640) also graded it sahih, reporting it through two other pathways from Abu Bakr bin Ayyash with the same wording. This serves as a strong corroboration of what preceded.Muslim reported it in the Book of Prayer (534), the hadith of Abdullah bin Masud, as a statement attributed to him rather than to the Prophet directly.His words, "they delay the prayer past its time," mean that they postpone it beyond its preferred time, not that they pray it entirely outside its designated time. In such a case, it is recommended for the one following behind an imam to pray it individually at the beginning of its proper time in his home, then pray it again with the imam.This hadith also contains encouragement to follow the imam in anything short of disobedience to Allah and His Messenger, so that the unity of the Muslims is not fractured and discord does not arise among them.On this subject there is also a report from Ubada bin Samit and Qabisa bin Waqqas, both of which Abu Dawud narrated, though their chains contain men who are unknown.