Is My Prayer Valid if I Briefly Sit After the Second Prostration of the Third Rak’a?

Answered by Shaykh Yusuf Weltch

Question

During ‘Isha salah, I accidentally sat down in between the Ruku and the Sajda of the second raka but got up back into the Qiyam position and went directly into sajda to fix this (as I read this is what is to be done in the Hanafi school), but on the third rak’a, I sat down after the second prostratin again accidentally, and immediately went into the Qiyam position for the final rakat. Is my prayer valid?

Answer

In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate

The prayer is valid if you immediately stand up to the fourth rak’a after forgetfully sitting. However, if you remain sitting for the time it takes to say three times Subhan Allah, you must perform the two prostrations of forgetfulness at the end of the prayer.

If you did not perform the prostrations of forgetfulness, the prayer is still valid. However, it is necessary to repeat the prayer if the prayer timing remains, and it is recommended to repeat the prayer if the prayer time is finished.  [Ibn ‘Abidin, Radd al-Muhtar; Shurunbulali, Maraqi al-Falah]

Hope this helps
Allah knows best

[Shaykh] Yusuf Weltch
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

Shaykh Yusuf Weltch is a teacher of Arabic, Islamic law, and spirituality. After accepting Islam in 2008, he then completed four years at the Darul Uloom seminary in New York where he studied Arabic and the traditional sciences. He then traveled to Tarim, Yemen, where he stayed for three years studying in Dar Al-Mustafa under some of the greatest scholars of our time, including Habib Umar Bin Hafiz, Habib Kadhim al-Saqqaf, and Shaykh Umar al-Khatib. In Tarim, Shaykh Yusuf completed the memorization of the Qur’an and studied beliefs, legal methodology, hadith methodology, Qur’anic exegesis, Islamic history, and a number of texts on spirituality. He joined the SeekersGuidance faculty in the summer of 2019.