Is My Prayer Valid If I Switched Suras Midway through Reciting?

Answered by Shaykh Yusuf Weltch

Question

While I was praying Witr qada, in the second rak‘a after Fatiha, I recited a little bit of Surat al-Nas, then stopped because I realized I should read Surat al-Falaq instead, and then started reciting the whole of Surat al-Falaq.

Is my Salah valid if I start a Sura, don’t finish it, then start another?

I did not do any Sajda sahw. Is my Salah valid?

Answer

In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate

Prostration of forgetfulness is only necessary when one leaves out a necessary action (wajib). Reciting a specific Sura as opposed to another is not necessary. [Tahtawi/Shurunbulali, Hashiyat Maraqi al-Falah]

That said, your prayer is valid.

Hope this helps
Allah knows best
[Shaykh] Yusuf Weltch
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

Shaykh Yusuf Weltch teaches Arabic, Islamic law, and spirituality. After accepting Islam in 2008, he 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 studied for three years in Dar al-Mustafa under some of the most outstanding 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 Quran and studied beliefs, legal methodology, hadith methodology, Quranic exegesis, Islamic history, and several texts on spirituality. He joined the SeekersGuidance faculty in the summer of 2019.