if at the time of asr with a jamaa’ah a person enters the salah thinking that he’s praying dhuhr and during the salah he realizes that its actually asr, what should he do when his niyaa(intention) changes during that prayer.  Does he have to cut the prayer at that point and make a new takbeeratul ihram?


Praise be to Allaah.

This question refers to one of two scenarios: 

The first scenario is where the questioner has prayed
Zuhr then he joins them to pray ‘Asr with the intention of praying Zuhr
because he has forgotten, then during the prayer he remembers that this
prayer is ‘Asr. In this case it is not correct for him to change his
intention by now intending to pray ‘Asr. Rather he should stop praying,
then say Allaahu akbar and re-join the prayer with the imaam, with the
intention of praying ‘Asr. That is because the intention is a condition
of the prayer’s validity. The basis for this (i.e., for the intention
being required for prayer) is that whoever changes his intention for
one specific prayer, whether it is fard (obligatory) or naafil (supererogatory),
to another specific prayer, the prayer he originally intended to pray
becomes invalid and cannot be counted as the other prayer for which
he changed his intention. Rather he should stop praying the prayer that
he initially intended, then say takbeerat al-ihram (say “Allaahu
akbar” to start a prayer) with the intention to pray the other prayer.
And Allaah knows best. See al-Sharh al-Mumti’, 2/296. 

The
second scenario is where he has not prayed Zuhr at all, and he comes
to the mosque and finds them praying ‘Asr. 

Shaykh Ibn Baaz (may Allaah have mercy on him) was asked:
if a person has missed a prayer, such as Zuhr, then he remembers it
when the iqaamah for ‘Asr prayer has been given, what should he do?
He replied: What is prescribed for such a person is that he should pray
with the current jamaa’ah (congregation), but with the intention of
praying Zuhr, then he should pray ‘Asr after that, because it is obligatory
to pray the prayers in the correct order, and that obligation is not
to be ignored for fear of missing the prayer in congregation. 

Elsewhere,
he said: the difference of intention between the imaam and the one who
is praying behind him does not matter, according to the correct scholarly
view. 

And Allaah knows best. 

Fataawa al-Shaykh Ibn Baaz (may Allaah have mercy on him), vol 12, p. 190-191.