Answered by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
When I pray sometimes (now happening quite often) in the middle of my prayer I forget if I said the 1st Takbir (takbir ula as I think its called) or sometime I forget if I have made one sajda or two.. I usually make salam and restart my prayer, can you please tell me what I should do in this situation and how to rectify myself?
Wa Alaykum Assalam wa Rahmatullah wa Barakatuhu,
In the Name of Allah, Most Merciful & Compassionate
The way to clear confusion is to remember the fiqh maxim that:
When certainty is not possible, one relies on reasoned judgment.
Thus, when you are confused, make a quick judgment, and go with this without hesitation. Allah has told us that, “Allah does not make anyone responsible for more than they are able.” [Qur’an, 2.286] The jurists deduced a maxim from this, namely that, “Moral responsibility is to the extent of [genuine] ability.” [Sarakhsi, al-Mabsut, 25.27]
The scholars explain that when judgment is needed, one must remember that:
a) one is being called upon to decide one of the possibilities, and saying, “I don’t know,” is not one of these possibilities;
b) reasoned judgment should have some basis, and cannot fly in the face of certaintydenying certainty is not reasonable.’
[Shaykh Adib Kallas and Shaykh Mahmoud Ashraf Usmani]
The answers below explain the fiqh of forgetting in prayer.
Faraz Rabbani.