What Is the Ruling If One Does Not Do the Prostration of Forgetfulness?

Answered by Shaykh Yusuf Weltch

Question

I’ve recently started following and learning more about the Hanafi fiqh and its approach to the Quran and Sunna. However, there are some things I’m still ignorant about. I know if you realize you did something that required the prostrations of forgetfulness, one would need to offer them before the Salam or else the prayer will be void; however, while doing salah, I accidentally sat before going into sajdah after coming down from the ruku’.

I knew that salah would have been immediately invalidated in another madhab, but I thought it could be different in the Hanafi madhab and carried on with my Salah.

After that, I researched and found it was wajib and, therefore would need the prostrations of forgetfulness for Salah to be valid. I performed the prostrations after salah because I was not aware of this ruling, is my prayer still valid even though I did not do the prostrations while in salah? Would I need to repeat my prayer?

Answer

In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate

When Are The Prostrations of Forgetfulness Due?

In the Hanafi school, omitting any necessary actions (wajib), adding an extra action (such as an extra ruku’ or sajda), or changing the order of the actions of the prayer necessitates two prostrations of forgetfulness. [Mawsili, al-Ikhtiyar]

The Prayer, Although Valid is Necessary to Repeat

However, if one did not perform the prostrations, the prayer is considered valid since all the integrals were performed. However not prostrating for forgetfulness leaves the prayer deficient, prohibitively disliked (makruh tahriman). [Mawsili, al-Ikhtiyar]

Any prayer performed in a manner that is prohibitively disliked is necessary to repeat to remove the deficiency and the sin involved. [Mawsili, al-Ikhtiyar]

Till When is it Valid to Perform the Prostrations of Forgetfulness?

It is necessary to perform the prostrations of forgetfulness during the prayer. [Mawsili, al-Ikhtiyar]

However, if one forgetfully makes taslim (said al-Salam ‘alaikum wa rahmatullah) and then remembers they need to perform prostrations of forgetfulness, they can still perform them and then finish the prayer as normal. [Nasafi, Mandhumat al-Khilaf]

However, this only applies if they do not do anything which ends the prayer, such as turning away from the Qibla or speaking.

If one did turn away from the Qibla, spoke, or did anything that would end the prayer – it is not valid for them to perform the prostrations as the prayer is considered over. It is, therefore, necessary for them to repeat that prayer.

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.