Chapter Ten: The Prostration of Forgetfulness

سُجُودُ السَّهْوِ

سُجُوْدُ السَّهْوِ — The Prostrations of Forgetfulness

(An account of the prostrations of forgetfulness [sajdat al-sahw].)

وَعَنْ عَبْدِ اللّٰهِ بْنِ مَسْعُوْدٍ رَضِيَ اللّٰهُ عَنْهُ اَنَّ النَّبِيَّ صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَ سَلَّمَ صَلَّى الظُّهْرَ خَمْسًا فَقِيْلَ لَهٗ اَزِيْدَ فِي الصَّلٰوةِ اَمْ نَسِيْتَ ؟ فَسَجَدَ سَجْدَتَيْنِ ۔ ☆

(Reported by al-Tirmidhī, who graded it ḥasan.)

Translation: From Ḥaḍrat ʿAbd Allāh ibn Masʿūd (may Allah be pleased with him) [it is reported] that the Prophet ﷺ one day prayed five rakʿas in ẓuhr. It was said to him: "Has an addition been made to the prayer, or did you forget?" So he made two prostrations.

(Al-Tirmidhī has reported it.)

☆ وحملوا حديث ابن مسعود رضي الله عنه على انه قعد في الرابعة ثم قام الى الخامسة بعد التعوذ والا يتحول الفرض نفلا اوتفسد الصلوة على الروايتين ۔ [reading uncertain]

Translation: The hadith of Ibn Masʿūd (may Allah be pleased with him) has been taken to mean that the Prophet ﷺ sat in the sitting (qaʿda) in the fourth rakʿa and then stood up for the fifth; otherwise the obligatory (farḍ) [prayer] becomes voluntary (nafl) and the prayer becomes void.

عَنْ عِمْرَانَ بْنِ حُصَيْنٍ " اَنَّ النَّبِيَّ صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَ سَلَّمَ صَلّٰى بِهِمْ فَسَهَا فَسَجَدَ سَجْدَتَيْنِ ثُمَّ تَشَهَّدَ ثُمَّ سَلَّمَ " ۔

(Reported by al-Tirmidhī, who graded it ḥasan.)

Translation: From Ḥaḍrat ʿImrān ibn Ḥuṣayn [it is reported] that the Prophet ﷺ led them in prayer, then forgot. So he made two prostrations, then recited the tashahhud and gave the salām. (Al-Tirmidhī has reported it and called it "ḥasan".)

عَنْ اَبِيْ هُرَيْرَةَ رَضِيَ اللّٰهُ عَنْهُ " اَنَّ رَسُوْلَ اللّٰهِ صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَ سَلَّمَ انْصَرَفَ مِنَ اثْنَتَيْنِ فَقَالَ لَهٗ ذُو الْيَدَيْنِ اَقَصُرَتِ الصَّلٰوةُ اَمْ نَسِيْتَ ؟ يَا رَسُوْلَ اللّٰهِ ! قَالَ رَسُوْلُ اللّٰهِ صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ اَصَدَقَ ذُو الْيَدَيْنِ " فَقَالَ النَّاسُ " نَعَمْ " فَقَامَ رَسُوْلُ اللّٰهِ صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَ سَلَّمَ فَصَلَّى اثْنَتَيْنِ اُخْرَيَيْنِ ثُمَّ سَلَّمَ ثُمَّ كَبَّرَ فَسَجَدَ مِثْلَ سُجُوْدِهٖ اَوْ اَطْوَلَ ثُمَّ كَبَّرَ فَرَفَعَ ثُمَّ سَجَدَ مِثْلَ سُجُوْدِهٖ اَوْ اَطْوَلَ ثُمَّ رَفَعَ ۔ ☆

(Reported by al-Bukhārī, Muslim and al-Tirmidhī.)

Vocabulary: inṣarafa — he finished the prayer, gave the salām; a-ṣadaqa — did he speak the truth?; aṭwal — longer.

Translation: And from Ḥaḍrat Abū Hurayra (may Allah be pleased with him) [it is reported] that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ gave the salām after only two rakʿas. Dhu'l-Yadayn said to him: "O Messenger of Allah, has the prayer been shortened, or have you forgotten?" The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said (to the other people): "Has Dhu'l-Yadayn spoken the truth?" The people answered: "Yes." So the Messenger of Allah ﷺ stood up and prayed the remaining two rakʿas, then gave the salām, then said the takbīr and made prostrations like his earlier prostrations or longer, then rose; then he prostrated like the earlier prostrations or longer than them, then rose.

(Al-Bukhārī, Muslim and al-Tirmidhī have reported it.)

عَنْ عِمْرَانَ بْنِ حُصَيْنٍ رَضِيَ اللّٰهُ عَنْهُ اَنَّ رَسُوْلَ اللّٰهِ صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَ سَلَّمَ صَلَّى الْعَصْرَ فَسَلَّمَ ثَلَاثَ رَكَعَاتٍ ثُمَّ دَخَلَ مَنْزِلَهٗ فَقَامَ اِلَيْهِ رَجُلٌ يُّقَالُ لَهُ الْخِرْبَاقُ وَكَانَ فِيْ يَدَيْهِ طُوْلٌ فَقَالَ يَا رَسُوْلَ اللّٰهِ ! فَذَكَرَ لَهٗ صَنِيْعَهٗ وَخَرَجَ غَضْبَانَ يَجُرُّ رِدَاءَهٗ حَتَّى انْتَهٰى اِلَى النَّاسِ فَقَالَ " اَصَدَقَ هٰذَا " قَالُوْا نَعَمْ فَصَلّٰى رَكْعَةً ثُمَّ سَلَّمَ ثُمَّ سَجَدَ سَجْدَتَيْنِ ثُمَّ سَلَّمَ ۔

(Reported by the Group [of hadith compilers] except al-Bukhārī and al-Tirmidhī.)

☆ قلت اما الكلام في الصلوة فقد نسخ بحديث ان صلوتنا تسبيح و تكبير ۔

Translation: I say: as for speaking during the prayer, it has been abrogated by the hadith "Indeed, our prayer is glorification (tasbīḥ) and proclaiming [Allah's] greatness (takbīr)." (ʿ. Q.) [reading uncertain]

Translation: Ḥaḍrat ʿImrān ibn Ḥuṣayn (may Allah be pleased with him) [narrates] that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ prayed the ʿAṣr prayer and gave the salām after only three rakʿas (units of prayer). Then he went to his place (his house). Then a man who was called al-Khirbāq, and whose hands were long, got up and went to him and said, "O Messenger of Allah!" Then he described to him what he had done (the shortfall in the rakʿas). He became displeased and, dragging his cloak, came out to the people and said, "Has he spoken the truth?" The people answered, "Yes." Then he prayed one rakʿa, then gave the salām, then made two prostrations, and then gave the salām. (It was reported by a group [of the hadith compilers] other than al-Bukhārī and al-Tirmidhī.)

عَنْ اَبِی سَعِیْدِ الخُدرِی رَضِیَ اللّٰهُ عَنْهُ قَالَ قَالَ رَسُوْلُ اللّٰهِ صَلَّی اللّٰهُ عَلَیْهِ وَ سَلَّمَ "اِذَا شَکَّ اَحَدُکُمْ فِیْ صَلٰوتِهٖ فَلَمْ یَدْرِ کَمْ صَلّٰی ثَلَاثًا اَمْ اَرْبَعًا فَلْیَطْرَحِ الشَّکَّ وَلْیَبْنِ عَلٰی مَا اسْتَیْقَنَ ثُمَّ یَسْجُدُ سَجْدَتَیْنِ قَبْلَ اَنْ یُّسَلِّمَ فَاِنْ کَانَ صَلّٰی خَمْسًا شَفَعْنَ لَهٗ صلوته وانْ کَانَ صَلّٰی خَمْسًا اِتْمَامًا لِاَرْبَعٍ کَانَتَا تَرْغِیْمًا لِلشَّیْطٰنِ". ☆ [reading uncertain]

(Reported by Muslim.)

Vocabulary: shakka — doubted; lam yadri — did not know, could not tell; yaṭraḥ — let him cast out; yabni — let him build on, make [it] the basis; istayqana — certainty arose.

Translation: Ḥaḍrat Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī (may Allah be pleased with him) [narrates]: he said the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, "When any of you has a doubt in his prayer and does not know how many (rakʿas) he has prayed, three or four, let him throw away the doubt and make that of which he is certain his foundation. Then let him make two prostrations before giving the salām. If he had prayed five rakʿas, these two rakʿas [i.e. prostrations] will make his prayer even; and if, thinking he had prayed five, he has [in fact only] completed four, then these two will be a means of humiliating Satan." (Reported by Muslim.) [reading uncertain]

☆ اختلف العلماء ان الصلاة والدعاء فی التشهد قبل السجدتین ام بعدهما فاختار الکرخی الثانی و صاحب البدایة الاول وذهب الطحاوی الی ان یکون الصلوة والدعاء فیهما ـ وقال ابن الهمام والاحوط قول الطحاوی

Translation: The scholars differ on this: whether the durūd (invoking blessings on the Prophet ﷺ) and the supplication after the tashahhud (the testimony recited in the sitting) should be recited before the two prostrations [of forgetfulness] or after them. Al-Karkhī chose the second view (i.e. after), and the author of al-Bidāya chose the first view (i.e. before), and al-Ṭaḥāwī held that the durūd and supplication should be in both sittings. Ibn al-Humām says that the greater caution lies in al-Ṭaḥāwī's view. (ʿA.Q.) [reading uncertain]