Salat Tahiyyat Al-Masjid (When Entering the Mosque) After Iqama

What’s the hukm for a person entering the mosque when a congregation are performing shalat, does he follow their prayer or does he begin with salat Tahiyat al-Masjid at first ?

If one comes to the mosque after the iqama he should follow the prayer with the Imam, and it’s not right (according to the Prophetic way) to perform salat Tahiyyat al-Masjid, as the prophet (pbuh) said : “ If the iqama was proclaimed, then there’s no prayer except an obligatory prayer”. (Narrated by Muslim).

That when the muatheen (the caller for the prayer) starts proclaiming Iqama, as reported by Ibnu Hibban “If the muatheen begins to proclaim the iqama and his (the prophet (pbuh)) saying : “no prayer”, Scholar Al-Hafiz said : it’s right or perfect, and the first opinion is more reliable and preferred as it’s nearer to denying the reality, but since the prophet (pbuh) didn’t interrupt the prayer of that man, and only denies it, then it indicates denial of the perfectness only. (Al-Fath 149/2).

Al-Hafiz points to Ibn Buhainas hadith : That the prophet (pbuh) saw a man was praying two rakaat when the iqama had already been proclaimed, then, when the prophet (pbuh) ended the shalat, the people came together to the prophet (pbuh), and he (the prophet) said to that man : “Is the shubuh prayer four units ? is the shubuh prayer four units ?” (Bukhori 2/148 and Muslim).

So his saying : is the shubuh prayer four units ? is a denial and interrogative, and he repeated it to stress more on that denial.

Scholar Nawawi said : the hikma (wisdom) of that action is that every muslim should  follow the the obligatory prayer with the congregation from the beginning, and this starting in it immediately after the imam start, and also to keep all matters which complete that obligatory prayer, which is preferred than to perform Sunnah prayer. (Ended).

Then, whosoever fears of missing the obligatory prayer, so then he should pray with the Imam and cut his prayer, it’s said by scholar Abu Hamid from Shafi’I School (Al-Fath 2/151) and also he fears of missing the first row