Bookmarks
Arabic font settings
English font settings
Reset global font settings
Fiqh-us-Sunnah - 2.46
Hadith 2.46.1
Prostrations of Forgetfulness During the Prayer
It is confirmed that the Prophet sallallahu alehi wasallam sometimes forgot something in the salah. It is also true that he said: "I am a human being and forget like you forget. If I forget, remind me." There are specific points concerning such prostrations and they are presented below.
Hadith 2.46.A
How to perform these prostrations
The "prostrations of forgetfulness" (sujjud us-sahu) are two prostrations which a person makes before the taslim.
All of this has been confirmed from the Prophet sallallahu alehi wasallam. In the sahih, it is recorded from Abu Sa'id al-Khudri that the Prophet said: "If one of you has some doubts during his salah and he does not recall (the number of rak'at) he has prayed, three or four, then he can put an end to his doubt by performing salah according to what he was certain of [the lesser amount] and then making two sujjud before the taslim." In the story of Dhul-Yadain, in the two Sahihs, we are told the Prophet sallallahu alehi wassalam made the prostrations after the taslim.
Ash-Shaukani says: "The best that is stated on this subject is that one must follow what the Prophet said or did, respecting the sujjud before or after the taslim. If one does something that necessitates sujjud before the taslim, one should make them before the taslim, and if one does something requiring sujjud after the taslim, then one should make them after the taslim. As for those acts of forgetfulness that are not related to any specific time either before or after the taslim, one may choose to make the prostrations before or after the taslim in cases of addition or reduction in the salah.
This is based on what Muslim recorded in his Sahih from Ibn Mas'ud that the Prophet sallallahu alehi wasallam said: 'If one adds or decreases something from his salah, he should make two sujjud."'
Qur'anic references:
Help us to build Quranic citations related to this hadith. Get connected with our Contact Us option.
Support Our Initiatives
"When a person dies, his works end, except for three: ongoing charity, knowledge that is benefited from, and a righteous child who prays for him."
Prophet Mohammed (PBUH)
"The best of what a man leaves behind are three: a righteous child who supplicates for him, ongoing charity the reward of which reaches him, and knowledge that is acted upon after him."
Sunan Ibn Mājah
"Every day two angels come down from Heaven and one of them says, 'O Allah! Compensate every person who spends in Your Cause,' and the other (angel) says, 'O Allah! Destroy every miser.'"
Sahih Bukhari
