Does Mixing Up Ayat Invalidate One’s Prayer?

Answered by Shaykh Yusuf Weltch

Question

While leading my family in fajr prayer I was reciting Surat an-Naba’. In the second cycle of the prayer, I began from “inna li l-muttaqina mafaza” (إِنَّ لِلْمُتَّقِينَ مَفَازًا) but when I got to “rabbi s-samawati wa l-ardi wa ma baynahuma ar-rahman” (رَبِّ السَّمٰوٰتِ وَالْأَرْضِ وَمَا بَيْنَهُمَا الرَّحْمٰن), I accidentally said, “rabbi s-samawati wa l-ardi wa ma baynahuma fi sittati ayyamin thumma istawa ‘ala al-‘arsh” (رَبِّ السَّمٰوٰتِ وَالْأَرْضِ وَمَا بَيْنَهُمَا فِي سِتَّةِ أَيَّامٍ ثُمَّ اسْتَوَى عَلَى الْعَرْش). So l mixed it with an aya of Surat al-Sajda.

After I recognized this, I did not get reminded of how the aya was, so I just went to ruku‘ and finished the salah.

Is my prayer valid despite mixing up two similar verses in the Quran and not correcting the mistake during the prayer?

Was a prostration of forgetfulness due?

Answer

In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate

If a person, while praying, confuses the verses of one chapter with that of another, the prayer is valid, and no prostration of forgetfulness is due. [Ibn ‘Abidin, Radd al-Muhtar]

You were correct to go into the bowing position. The scholars encourage that if one is stuck in their recitation during the prayer and is not receiving help from the follower, they should either

• (a) move on to another chapter or
• (b) go into the bowing.

That is assuming they have already recited the necessary amount from that unit.

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.