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Omission of sura and prostration of forgetfulness

Answered as per Shafi'i Fiqh by Qibla.com

Answered by Shaykh Amjad Rasheed

Many students of knowledge have asked whether omitting a sura after the fatiha in the prayer necessitates a prostration of forgetfulness. From the books of our imams, it seems that it isn’t necessary to do so and that it invalidates the prayer, because it is adding an integral to the prayer. However Shaykh Nuh added in his translation of the “Maqasid” of Imam al-Nawawi, that omitting a sura does necessitate the prostration of forgetfulness.

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

An answer has come to me about this and the upshot is that the decided position of the school is that leaving something of the forms of the prayers such as the dhikrs during the ruku` and the sajda do not necessitate the prostration of forgetfulness, as was said in the Minhaj. Even if one does prostrate for it, one’s prayer would be invalidated unless it was done forgetfully or if one was excused because of being ignorant of it, as is mentioned in the Tuhfa (2/174).

Reciting a sura is from the forms of the prayer as is obvious, so its omission does not require the prostration of forgetfulness. The erudite scholar, Al-Bajuri mentioned this in his super-commentary (1/195) at the saying of Ibn Qasim, “(And as for the form) such as the glorifications and the like, that do not necessitate the prostration of forgetfulness (one does not return) the person who is praying (to it) after having left it (and does not prostrate for forgetfulness for it) whether he left it intentionally or forgetfully.

Imam al-Bajuri also said, (and like it) i.e. the sayings of Allahu Akbar between movements, and the recitation of a sura, and the seeking of refuge, and the opening supplication, etc, are forms….(and one does not prostrate out of forgetfulness for them), if he does prostate for them, intentionally, it invalidates his prayer and if not, then it does not. However, because of this [s. omission] the prayer becomes imperfect that necessitates another prostration of forgetfulness.

I reviewed this specific issue with our abovementioned shaykh {s. Shaykh Nuh Keller}, and he said that the mistake had appeared in the new edition of Maqasid because of those he had reviewed it with.

Amjad Rasheed

[Translated by Shazia Ahmad]

السؤال : قد سأل أكثرُ من واحد من طلبة العلم عن ترك السورة بعد الفاتحة ، هل يلزم سجود السهو أم لا ؟ فالظاهر من كتب أئمتنا أنه لا يلزم ذلك بل يبدو أن سجودَ السهو في هذه الحالة يُفسد الصلاة لما فيه من زيادة ركن ، هذا و قد زاد سيدُنا الشيخُ نوح في ترجمة “المقاصد” للإمام النووي : أن ترك السورة يلزم السجود الجواب : تقدم لي الجوابُ عن هذا السؤال ، والحاصلُ أن المقررَ في المذهب أن تركَ شيء من هيئات الصلاة كأذكار الركوع والسجود لا يجبر بسجود السهو كما صرح به في “المنهاج” ، بل لو سجد لها بطلت صلاته إلا إن كان ذلك سهواً أو معذوراً بجهله كما في “التحفة” (2/174) وقراءةُ السورة من هيئات الصلاة كما لا يخفى فلا تجبر بسجود السهو ، وبه صرح العلامة الباجوري في “حاشيته” (1/195) عند قول ابن قاسم :” ( والهيئةُ ) كالتسبيحات ونحوها مما لا يجبر بالسجود ( لا يعود ) المصلي ( إليها ) بعد تركها ( ولا يسجد للسهو عنها) سواء تركها عمداً أو سهواً “. اهـ قال الباجوري :” ( قوله ونحوها ) أي : كالتكبيرات للانتقالات وقراءةِ السورة والتعوذ ودعاء الافتتاح إلى آخر الهيئات المتقدمة … ( قوله ولا يسجد للسهو عنها ) فإن سجد عنها عالماً بطلت صلاته وإلا فلا ، لكن يحصل بهذا السجود خلل يجبرُه بسجود آخر “. اهـ وقد راجعتُ شيخَنا المذكورَ بخصوص المسألة فتبين أن خطأً وقع في النسخة الجديدة لـ “المقاصد” سببُه مَن راجعها معه .

This answer was indexed from Qibla.com, which used to have a repository of Islamic Q&A answered by various scholars. The website is no longer in existence. It has now been transformed into a learning portal with paid Islamic course offering under the brand of Kiflayn.

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