What is the decree about sajdah as-sahw (prostration of forgetfulness)? Is it better to perform sajdah as-sahw or to interrupt and perform the prayer again if one has enough time?
What is the decree about sajdah as-sahw (prostration of forgetfulness)? Is it better to perform sajdah as-sahw or to interrupt and perform the prayer again if one has enough time? I remember reading something like sajdah as-sahw is performed if there is not enough time and it is necessary to start the prayer again if there is enough time.
Submitted by on Fri, 28/03/2025 - 18:56
Dear Brother / Sister,
According to the sound view of Hanafis, sajdah as-sahw is wajib and according to the other madhhabs it is sunnah in general. (1)
The evidence on which Hanafis based their view is the following hadith reported from Abdullah b. Mas'ud:
"When one of you has a doubt in prayer, he should search and complete the prayer based on his view; then, he should perform sajdah as-sahw (prostration of forgetfulness) after salutation; that is, he should perform two sajdahs for his mistake."(2)
Abu Said al-Khudri reports the following from the Messenger of Allah:
"If any of you doubts whether he has performed three or four rak’ahs, he should avoid doubt and continue performing the prayer based on his view and complete his prayer like that. He should perform two sajdahs before salutation. If he has performed five rak’ahs, those sajdahs will be an intercessor for his prayer; if he has performed the prayer correctly, they will drive Satan away from him." (3)
That the Prophet (pbuh) and the Companions performed sajdah as-sahw when it was necessary shows that this sajdah is wajib. When one of the wajibs of hajj is not performed, an animal is sacrificed to atone for it; similarly, sajdah as-sahw is wajib to complete the missing parts in prayer.
According to Hanafis, when a person who performs a prayer abandons this sajdah though it is necessary, he will have committed a sin but his prayer is not invalidated because sajdah as-sahw is compensation for something lost. The compensation of something can be only wajib. Sajdah as-sahw eliminates the sin caused by not doing wajib deeds like reading tashahhud and salutation but it does not eliminate the deficiency caused by not performing a rukn of prayer like ruku’.
A person who abandons a wajib in a prayer can complete the prayer by performing sajdah as-sahw or he can perform that prayer again after finishing it if he wishes. He is free to do either of them.
References:
(1) see Ibnul-Humam, Fathul-Qadir, Egypt 1316/1898, I, 355, 374; al-Qasani, Badayiu's-Sanayi', Beirut 1394/1974, I,163-179; al-Maydani, al-Lubab, Istanbul nd, I, 95 ff; az-Zuhayli, al-Fiqhul-Islami wa Adillatuh, Damascus 1405/1985, I, 87 ff.
(2) see Bukhari, Salah, 31; Muslim, Masajid, 88, 89; Abu Dawud, Salah, 190, 191, 193; Nasai, Sahw, 24, 25; Ibn Majah, Iqamah, 132, 133; Malik, Muwatta', Nida, 61-63; Ahmad b. Hanbal, I, 190, 193, 204-206.
(3) see Bukhari, Sahw, 6, 7; Muslim, Salah, 19, 20; Ahmad b. Hanbal, III, 12, 37, 42.
Questions on Islam
- Does sajdah as-sahw become necessary if a person reads the additional chapters in a wrong order in a prayer?
- Does uttering basmala before the dua of at-Tahiyyatu invalidate the prayer or does this necessitate sajdah as-sahw (prostration of forgetfulness)?
- If I forget to recite an additional surah (chapter), will my prayer be valid?
- What should I do if I am late for the congregational prayer and the imam performs sajdah as-sahw?
- What are the situations that necessitate sajdah as-sahw? Is it necessary to perform sajdah as-sahw in sunnah prayers?
- Sajdah as-Sahw
- Does forgetting to recite Qunut supplications in the witr prayer necessitate sajdah as-sahw?
- In the salah, if we forget an ayah while reading a short additional chapter like Surah al-Ikhlas, must we perform sajdah as-sahw?
- When is Sajdah as-Sahw (prostration of forgetfulness) required? Where is it be performed?
- If a person who has started to follow the imam later gets up and continues the prayer after the imam salutes to the right and performs sajdah as-sahw, what should he (masbuq) do?
