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Forgetting whether one performed the prostration of forgetfulness

Answered as per Shafi'i Fiqh by Qibla.com

Answered by Shaykh Abdul-Karim Yahya, SunniPath Academy Teacher

Sometimes in my prayer I make two prostrations with the sitting in between but think I have only made one. Another situation is when I have made one prostration and think I have made two. I know that when one is unsure he should think he has done the lesser of the two actions, so should I make a another prostration even if it will end up being a third prostration and adding something – to the prayer and then make a prostration for forgetfulness at the end of the prayer? Please clarify.

My second question is how does one complete the prayer if arriving as a latecomer in the fourth rakat, i.e. he has 3 rakats to complete after the salams? Does he sit for tashahhud after completing one rakat after the salams (as he has now performed two rakats, one with the congregation and one by himself) and then end the prayer as normal with the final sitting in his last rakat? Or does he sit for tashahhud after completing two rakats by himself then complete the prayer as normal in the last rakat (his third rakat by himself, thereby making the 3 rakats he prayed like the Maghrib prayer? Or does one not sit for tashahhud at all and just complete the prayer with the final sitting (as his prayer would have included 2 sittings one with the imam in the 4th rakat of the imams prayer and one sitting in the last rakat of his prayer?

Answer:
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful

In the name of Allah, Most merciful and compassionate

As for the first question, if one is unsure whether they have prostrated once or twice, they assume they have done the lesser and prostrate again, then prostrate for forgetfulness at the end of their prayer. This is the ruling of every active integral performed with uncertainty and it is possible that it was extra. One performs the forgetfulness prostration to make up for their uncertainty about its being extra even if they remember that it was not extra before saying salams.[1]

As for the second, Imam Nawawi said in Minhaj: “What the latecomer catches is the beginning of their own prayer, so they repeat Qunut in the remainder. And were they to catch one rakat of Maghrib with the imam, then they do tashahhud in their own second rakat.”[2] So if one arrives in the third rakat of a four rakat prayer, they sit for tashahhud with the imam merely out of follower ship, then do tashahhud again in their own second rakat and complete the rest of the prayer normally. And Allah knows best and He alone gives success (tawfiq).

[1]See: Ibn Hajar al-Haytami, Hawashi al-Sharwani Wa Ibn Qasim al-Abbadi ‘Ala Tuhfah al-Muhtaj Bisharh al-Minhaj (Beruit, Dar Ihya’ al-Turath al-‘Arabi), 2:188.
[2] Yahya Bin Sharaf al-Nawawi, Minhaj al-Talibin Wa ‘Umdah al-Muftin (Eygpt: Sharikah Maktabah wa Matba’ah Mustafa al-Babi al-Halabi wa Awladuhu, 1338 A.H. [1920 C.E.]), p.19.

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