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Should I Repeat My Prayer for Having Doubts About Forgetting the First Sitting?

Answered as per Hanafi Fiqh by Seekersguidance.org

Answered by Ustadh Sufyan Qufi

Question

I doubted whether or not I performed the first sitting for the tahiyyat and I did not perform the prostration of forgetfulness (sujud al-sahw).

Should I redo the prayer?

Answer

In the name of Allah, Most Compassionate, Most Merciful,

I pray this finds you in the best of states.

Mere doubts about not performing the first sitting, which is necessary (wajib), are of no legal consequence and should be ignored because in this situation we return to this important fiqh principle:
“The default in all human actions is validity and soundness.”

The validity of the prayer relates only to the obligatory (fard) actions, such as the pre-conditions and integrals. The soundness of one’s prayer relates also to the necessary (wajib) actions. If one does not perform these, one’s prayer, though valid, is un-sound and needs to be repeated within the time. For past performances, one may take the opinion that it is no longer wajib (but, rather, recommended) to repeat such prayers.

This principle above is one of the applications of this more general fiqh principle:
“Certainty is not lifted by a doubt.”
[Ibn Nujaym, al-Ashbah wa al-Nadha’ir; Majallat al-Ahkam al-`Adiliyya]

This means that if one is certain about something, such as the validity of our worship, with this being the basic assumption for all human actions, then we will keep assuming it is valid until certain that it was not. Mere possibilities and even likelihoods do not change this.

The important fiqh principles related to this matter include:

  1. Certainty is not lifted by doubt;
  2. Certainty is only lifted by another certainty;
  3. The default assumption about a matter is akin to certainty;
  4. The default assumption about all matters is validity and soundness;
  5. Mere doubts and suppositions are of no legal consequence.

And Allah knows best.

Wassalam,
[Ustadh] Sufyan Qufi
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

This answer was collected from Seekersguidance.org. It’s an online learning platform overseen by Sheikh Faraz Rabbani. All courses are free. They also have in-person classes in Canada.

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