asked him: ‘Have you performed the Sal?t?’ The man answered in the negative.
The prophet ( - ) then asked him to stand up and perform the Sal?t’. (1)
The narration reported in Sah?h Muslim and traced back to J?bir runs as follows:
‘Sulaik Al-Ghataf?n? once entered the mosque on Friday, and the prophet ( - ) was on the pulpit. Sulaik sat down without doing any Sal?t. The prophet ( - ) then addressed him saying: ‘O Sulaik! Stand up and perform two Rak‘ahs and make them short’’. (2)
Accordingly, the prophet’s ( - ) order “stand up” indicates that he ( - ) may have not noticed the man but until he sat down, and then ordered him to do the two Rak‘ahs. Or that he ( - ) may have guessed that the man performed the two Rak‘ahs immediately after attending the mosque and before coming close to the prophet ( - ) to listen to the Khutbah. Accordingly, he ( - ) asked him about them to make sure he had done them to which the man answered in the negative.
So, the prophet’s ( - ) words -in Ibn M?jah’s narration- “before you came” may mean “before you came close to me and listen to the Khutbah” for doing Sal?t before entering the mosque is originally prohibited, so how could the prophet ( - ) ask the man about it!!
(1) Narrated by: Al-Bukh?r? in his “Sah?h” in “Kit?bul Jumu‘ah”, chapter: “When one enters the mosque while the Im?m is delivering the speech; one should stand and perform two short Rak‘ahs” (vol. 2 / p. 412) (no. 931) and “Kit?bul At-Tahajjud”, chapter: “Narrations regarding N?filah Sal?t in twos” (vol. 3 / p. 49) (no. 1166).
(2) Narrated by: Muslim in his “Sah?h” in “Kit?bul Jumu‘ah”, chapter: “Doing Tahiyyatul Masjid while the Im?m is delivering his speech” (vol. 2 / p. 597) (no. 59) traced back to J?bir, Ab? D?w?d in his “Sunnan” (no. 1115), (1116) and (1117), At-Tirmith? in “Al-J?m?‘” (no. 510), An-Nas?’? in “Al-Mujtab?” (pp. 101, 306), Ibn M?jah in “As-Sunnan” (no. 1112) and (1113), Al-Baghaw? in “Sharhus Sunnah” (no. 1084) and (1085) traced back to J?bir and Ab? Sa‘?d ( - رضي الله عنه -).