Question
If a person who usually said “سُبْحَانَ رَبِّيَ الْعَظِيمِ“ during the tasbih of ruku, starts saying “العزيم“ instead of “الْعَظِيمِ“ (he starts to think that the letter ز is the correct one to pronounce this word, because he has misunderstood something he read on the internet) and proceeds to perform several hundred prayers like this until he realizes his misunderstanding and his mistake, does he committed an act of kufr ? are his prayers valid ? should he repeat them ?
Answer
In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
As-salāmu ‘alaykum wa-rahmatullāhi wa-barakātuh.
One should be cautious as to what he/she recites in Salaah. Changing or mispronouncing a letter would distort the meaning of the word.
In the Tasbeeh of Sajdah, if a person recites العزيم instead of الْعَظِيمِ, that will invalidate the Salaah and it will have to be repeated. [1]
The Salaah performed will not be valid. However, that does not constitute Kufr.
And Allah Ta’āla Knows Best
Mufti Muhammad I.V Patel
Checked and Approved by
Mufti Nabeel Valli
Darul Iftaa Mahmudiyyah
Lusaka, Zambia
الدر المختار وحاشية ابن عابدين (رد المحتار) (1/ 494)
السنة في تسبيح الركوع سبحان ربي العظيم إلا إن كان لا يحسن الظاء فيبدل به الكريم لئلا يجري على لسانه العزيم فتفسد به الصلاة كذا في شرح درر البحار، فليحفظ فإن العامة عنه غافلون حيث يأتون بدل الظاء بزاي مفخمة