LEARN YOUR DUTIES: FORGETTING DURING PRAYER

Forgetting what we pray
Adil Salahi

On a certain occasion, the Prophet (peace be upon him) offered a prayer, either increasing or decreasing its length. When he finished, he was asked whether something happened during the prayer. He said: ?Why do you ask?? They said: ?You have prayed such-and-such?. He turned back on his heals to face the Qiblah and performed two prostrations then finished his prayer. Then he turned to us and said: ?Had something happened regarding the prayer, I would have told you. However, I am a human being, and I forget like you forget. Should I forget, then remind me. If any of you is in doubt as to what he has prayed, he should try to determine what is right and take it as basis to complete his prayers. Then he should end his prayer and offer two prostrations.? (Related by Al-Bukhari).

The first thing this Hadith tells us is that God?s messenger was a human being who experienced all the failings of human beings, such as being distracted in prayer, or forgetting how much of his prayer he had completed. Here the Prophet says clearly that he might forget whether he prayed two or three rak?ahs, or he finished a 4-rak?ah prayer after completing only two rak?ahs. If he is leading the prayer at the time, those who are praying with him should remind him.

This applies to anyone leading a congregational prayer. Should the imam who is leading the prayer forget, either adding a rak?ah or missing one, he should be reminded so that he can correct himself. The reminder is made by anyone in the congregation who raises his voice saying Subhan Allah, which means ?limitless is God in His glory?. This is a good enough sign to alert the imam to the fact that he has made a mistake that needs to be corrected. Most probably, the imam would be in doubt and when one in the congregation glorifies God in this way, the imam will recognize his mistake and correct it. The congregation should follow the imam whatever he does, until he finishes the prayer.

In the case the Hadith mentions, the Prophet and his companions were offering a 4-rak?ah prayer, but when he completed the four, he stood up to do a fifth, thinking that it was the fourth. According to another report, one or two tried to remind him but he took no notice of them. They completed the added rak?ah and finished the prayer. This was when they asked him whether something new had happened. Someone pointed out the mistake and the Prophet turned back to face the Qiblah, and performed two prostrations glorifying God who never forgets or overlooks anything. The congregation did these two prostrations with him and finished the prayer with the usual salam.

The Prophet then explained the procedure to be followed in such cases. When a person is in doubt as to how many rak?ahs he has completed, he should try to make sure. If he remains in doubt, then he relies on the lesser figure, which is the one he is certain of, and completes the prayer. He then performs the two prostrations to complete the prayer. Thus, if he is unsure whether he completed two or three rak?ahs, he counts them as two. If it is three or four, he continues on the basis that he has completed three. If he had actually done the higher number, this will not affect the validity of his prayer, because he is acting on the basis of which he is certain. The two prostrations at the end make up for the mistake.