Prayer is a time when the believer meets his Lord (may He be glorified and exalted). When he is praying, he feels that he is standing before Allah (may He be exalted). Our Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) has taught us the etiquette of getting up for prayer and the right time to do that, as is mentioned in this hadith, in which the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) told his companions (may Allah be pleased with them) not to get up for prayer until they saw him. What is meant is that this applies in the case of prayers in congregation, when the members of the congregation are waiting for the iqamah, so that the iqamahwill be immediately followed the prayer. What is meant by seeing him (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) is when they saw him getting ready and wanting to pray. The instruction not to get up before seeing him was so that they would not stand for too long, because something might happen to distract him and cause him to be late as a result. The basic principle is that the one who is waiting to pray behind an imam should stand up when he hears the iqamah, and the one who says the iqamah should not start to say it until the imam gives him permission to do so, or when he sees the imam. In Sahih Muslim it is narrated that Jabir ibn Samurah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: Bilal used to give theadhan when the sun began to decline, but he did not give the iqamahuntil the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) came out. When he came out, he would give the iqamah for prayer when he saw him. The declining of the sun refers to when the sun begins to descend from the middle of the sky, after it has passed the zenith and begins to move towards the west. Then the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) instructed them to be calm and dignified when getting up for prayer, because this is required when standing before Allah (may He be glorified and exalted). Maintaining dignity and keeping calm requires one not to rush or be hasty when getting up to pray..