{"id":11417,"date":"2026-01-22T01:37:29","date_gmt":"2026-01-22T01:37:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/imuslim.us\/?p=11417"},"modified":"2026-01-22T01:37:29","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T01:37:29","slug":"prostration-of-forgetfulness-13","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/imuslim.us\/?p=11417","title":{"rendered":"Prostration of Forgetfulness (1\/3)"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_2837\" style=\"width: 420px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.prayerinislam.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/Prostration-of-Forgetfulness.jpg\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2837\" class=\"wp-image-2837 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.prayerinislam.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/Prostration-of-Forgetfulness.jpg?resize=410%2C220\" alt=\"someone offering prostration.\" width=\"410\" height=\"220\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-2837\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Prostration of Forgetfulness can be defined as two prostrations that the one praying makes in order to compensate for mistakes occurring in the prayer due to forgetfulness.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Many people are ignorant about many of the rulings concerning the <em>Sujud As-Sahw<\/em> (prostration for forgetfulness) in the prayer. Some of them leave the <em>Sujud As-Sahw<\/em> when it is obligatory upon them. Others perform the prostration in other than its correct place; some perform it before the <em>tasleem<\/em> (salutation at the end of the prayer) even in cases when it has to be performed after the <em>tasleem<\/em>. Others prostrate after the <em>tasleem<\/em> even when it should be performed before it.<\/p>\n<p>Therefore, it is very important to become aware of its rulings, especially for the <em>Imams<\/em> (leaders of prayer) whom the people follow in their prayers, and who have therefore taken on the responsibility of following that, which is correct and prescribed in their prayers, and of leading the Muslims upon that.<\/p>\n<p>The Prostration of Forgetfulness can be defined as two prostrations that the one praying makes in order to compensate for mistakes occurring in the prayer due to forgetfulness (<em>sahw<\/em>).<\/p>\n<p><strong>Its causes are three:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Having added something (<em>Az-Ziyadah<\/em>),<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Having omitted something (<em>An-Naqs<\/em>),<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>and having been in a state of doubt (<em>Ash-Shak<\/em>).<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>First Cause: Having Added Something (<em>Az-Ziyadah<\/em>)<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>If the person praying deliberately adds an extra standing, sitting, bowing or prostration, then his prayer is nullified. If however, he does so due to forgetfulness and does not remember the addition until having completed it, then there is nothing due upon him except <em>Sujud As-Sahw<\/em>, his prayer will be correct. If however, he remembers whilst performing that addition, then it is obligatory upon him to leave that addition and also to perform <em>Sujud As-Sahw <\/em>(i.e., at the end of the prayer), and his prayer will be correct.<\/p>\n<p>An example of this is a person who prays the <em>Zhuhr<\/em> (Noon) prayer as five <em>rak`ahs<\/em>, but does not remember that he has added except whilst in the <em>Tashahhud<\/em>. So he should complete the <em>Tashahhud<\/em>, and make the salutations (<em>tasleem<\/em>) and then prostrate for forgetfulness, and then give the salutation (again). If, however, he does not remember the addition except after the salutation, then he should perform prostration for forgetfulness and give the salutation (again).<\/p>\n<p>The proof for this is the <em>hadith<\/em> of `Abdullah ibn Mas`ud (may Allah be pleased with him) who said that, \u201cThe Prophet (peace be upon him) prayed <em>Zhuhr <\/em>with five <em>rak`ahs<\/em>, so someone said, \u2018Has increase been made in the prayer?\u2019 So he replied, \u2018And why is that?\u2019 They said, \u2018You have prayed five (<em>rak`ahs<\/em>).\u2019 So he performed two prostrations after having given the salutation\u201d and in a narration (there occurs) \u201c\u2026 so he turned his feet and faced the <em>Qiblah <\/em>(direction of the <em>Ka`bah<\/em>), and per formed two Prostrations, then he gave the Salutation.\u201d (Agreed Upon)<\/p>\n<p><strong>Giving Salutations (<em>tasleem<\/em>) before Completion of the Prayer<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Giving salutation before the completion of the Prayer is a case of addition in the Prayer. So whoever gives the salutation before the completion of the Prayer deliberately, then his prayer is nullified. If, however, it is done due to forgetfulness, and he does not remember this until after a long time then he should repeat his prayer again. If he remembers a short time later, such as after two or three minutes, then he should complete his prayer and salutation, and then prostrate for forgetfulness and then give salutation (again).<\/p>\n<p>The proof for this is the <em>hadith<\/em> of Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him) who said that, \u201cThe Prophet (peace be upon him) lead them in the <em>Zhuhr<\/em> prayer or the <em>\u2018Asr<\/em> (Afternoon) prayer and gave the salutation after two <em>rak`ahs<\/em>. Then he departed quickly from one of the doors of the mosque, and the people were saying that the prayer had been decreased. The Prophet (peace be upon him) meanwhile, stood by a piece of wood placed in the mosque, leaning against it, as if he was angry. So a man stood and said, \u2018O Messenger of Allah, have you forgotten or has the prayer been reduced?\u2019 So the Prophet, (peace be upon him) said, \u2018I did not forget nor has it been reduced.\u2019 So the man said, \u2018Rather you have indeed forgotten.\u2019 So the Prophet (peace be upon him) said to the Companions, \u2018Is what he is saying true. They said, \u2018Yes.\u2019 So the Prophet (peace be upon him) went forward and prayed what remained of his prayer, then he gave the salutation, then he prostrated twice, then he gave the salutation.\u201d (Agreed upon)<\/p>\n<p>And if the <em>Imam <\/em>gives the salutation before completion of his prayer and there are some followers who missed part of the prayer and who stand up to make up what they had missed, and then the <em>Imam<\/em> remembers that there is something incomplete in his prayer that he has to make up for, so he stands to complete that &#8211; then in this case the followers who have already stood to complete what they missed have a choice between continuing to make up what they missed and then performing prostration for forgetfulness, and between returning to following the <em>Imam<\/em> &#8211; and when he performs the salutation to complete what they had missed &#8211; and then to prostrate for forgetfulness after giving the salutation, and this is more right and is more prudent.<\/p>\n<p>______________________________________<\/p>\n<p><em>Source: Quoted with slight modifications form Sheikh Muhammad ibn Salih Al-`Uthaimeen\u2019s The Prostration of Forgetfulness. <\/em><a href='https:\/\/prayerinislam.com\/prostration-of-forgetfulness-13\/' target='_blank'>Soucre Link<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What is meant by prostration of forgetfulness? What are the rulings of prostration of forgetfulness? How could one perform the prostration of forgetfulness?  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1799,1563],"tags":[6050,6051,1944,9,6052,6053,1568,6054,1569,1788,6055,6056,1573,6057,1575,1878,1852,1576,1577,6058,1928,2270],"class_list":["post-11417","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fatwas-rulings","category-prayer-in-islam","tag-adding-something-in-prayer","tag-completion-of-prayer","tag-conditions-of-prayer","tag-featured","tag-forgetfulness-in-prayer","tag-forgetfulness-prostratuion","tag-how-muslims-pray","tag-how-to-perform-sujusd-as-sahw","tag-how-to-pray","tag-humility-in-prayer","tag-khusu","tag-learning-prayer","tag-muslim-prayer","tag-omission-in-prayer","tag-prayer-in-islam","tag-prostration-of-forgetfulness","tag-rulings-of-prayer","tag-salah","tag-salat","tag-sheikh-muhammad-ibn-salih-al-uthaimeen","tag-sujud-as-sahw","tag-tasleem"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/imuslim.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11417","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/imuslim.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/imuslim.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imuslim.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imuslim.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11417"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/imuslim.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11417\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/imuslim.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11417"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imuslim.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11417"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imuslim.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11417"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}