Summary of Rulings Regarding Sujûd as-Sahw (the Prostration of Forgetfulness) in the

Hanbalî Madhhab
Explained by Muhib ad-Dîn al-Hanbalî

‫بسم هللا الرحمن الرحيم‬

Sujûd as-Sahw is legislated for:

➢ Adding something to the salâh (‫)الزيادة‬
➢ Reducing something from the salâh (‫)النقص‬
➢ Doubting whether you’ve left something off (‫)الشك في الترك‬
➢ Doubting whether you’ve added something to the salâh (‫)الشك في الزيادة‬

It is legislated in every salâh, obligatory (‫ )فريضة‬or optional (‫)نافلة‬, except for:

➢ Salâh al-Janâzah (the Funeral Prayer)
➢ The one who makes a mistake during Sujûd as-Sahw
➢ The one who makes a mistake in Sujûd at-Tilâwah (the Prostration of Recitation) and
Sujûd ash-Shukr (the Prostration of Thankfulness and Gratitude), even though both are
considered salâh in the madhhab

Its Ruling (‫)حكم تكليفي‬:

➢ Sujûd as-Sahw is either mubâh (permissible), mustahabb (recommended), or wâjib
(obligatory) depending on the circumstance.
➢ It is legilsated to do it either before or after the taslîm (the act of saying “‫السالم عليكم ورحمة‬
‫ ”هللا‬twice)
○ It is permissible to do it before or after in all cases, but recommended in some
circumstances to do so before or after.

When Sujûd ash-Sahw is mubâh

➢ This is in one case—when a person leaves off a Sunnah (recommended part of the salâh)
accidentally/unintentionally.
○ Whether they do or don’t perform Sujûd ash-Sahw it is the same.
○ If they perform it before the taslîm, it would not affect their salâh. However, if
one were to perform Sujûd as-Sahw before the taslîm in a case where it is not
legislated, it would invalidate their salâh because they would have added a sajdah
to it which is not part of it.

When Sujûd ash-Sahw is Mustahabb

➢ This is in two cases:
○ A person who speaks something which is part of the salâh (a statement which is
from the type (‫ )جنس‬of the salâh), but in its wrong place. (I.e. the statement is part
 of the salâh but but spoken in a place where it is not legislated.) In this case it is
recommended for a person to do Sujûd as-Sahw, but if they were to leave it off
their salâh would be valid.
○ The second instance is if a person is a traveller (‫ )مسافر‬and they begin the salâh
with the intention of shortening (‫)القصر‬, but end up praying completely (‫( )اإلتمام‬ex.
beginning with the intention of praying two rak’ât but completing four). In this
case it is recommended for them to do Sujûd as-Sahw and before the taslîm.

When Sujûd ash-Sahw is Wâjib

➢ An increase (‫)زيادة‬
○ If a person intentionally adds a ‫( فعل من جنس الصالة‬a qiyâm (standing), a rukû’
(standing prostration/bow), a sujûd (prostration), or a julûs (sitting)) in a time
when it is not legislated—their salâh is invalid. If they do so accidentally or out of
ignorance then they are obligated to stop the action as soon as they realize and do
Sujûd as-Sahw, preferably before the taslîm.
○ If someone makes a mistake in recitation which changes the meaning (‫من لحن لحنا‬
‫)يحيل المعنى‬, then they are obligated to do Sujûd as-Sahw. This is for mistakes in
other than the Fâtihah; if a mistake that changes the meaning is made in the
Fâtihah then the salâh is not valid because they have not come with a rukn (unless
they are a person that is excused).
➢ A decrease (‫)نقص‬
○ If a person leaves off a wâjib accidentally (out of ignorance or forgetfulness), they
are obligated to do Sujûd as-Sahw. If they leave off a wâjib on purpose whilst
having knowledge of its obligation, their salâh is invalid.
○ If a person leaves of a rukn (pillar) accidentally and remembers within the same
rak’ah, they are obligated to go back and continue from the place they left. If they
don’t do that and continue after remembering, their salâh is invalid.
■ If they remember after starting a new rak’ah they are not allowed to go
back, and if they do so their salâh would be invalid. Rather they have to
continue and not count the rak’ah in which they forgot a rukn.
■ If they do not realize until after they’ve completed the salâh by a short
period of time in which they haven’t spoken or done anything which
would invalidate the salâh, they can compensate by getting up, praying
one rak’ah, and doing Sujûd as-Sahw—ideally before the taslîm.
○ If one does taslîm before completing the salâh, they are obligated to get up, do
takbîr to enter into salâh again, come with the one rak’ah which they left off, and
they are obligated to do taslîm. This is if they remember shortly after completing
the salâh and haven’t done anything that would invalidate it (e.g. talking, eating
and drinking intentionally, breaking wudû’, etc)
 ■ This is the one case where it is recommend to do Sujûd as-Sahw after the
taslîm. ‫من سلم عن نقص ركعة فأكثر‬
● At-Tashahhud is obligated for the one who does Sujûd as-Sahw
after the taslîm (they would do the sajdatayn (two sajdahs), say the
Tashahhud, and then the taslîmatayn (two taslîms)).
➢ Doubt (‫)الشك‬
○ If a person doubts whether they left off a wâjib and they’re still in the time/place
for it, they simply do that action and there is nothing upon them (no need to do
Sujûd as-Sahw).
○ If a person doubts whether they left off a wâjib after its time/place, they continue
with the salâh and there’s nothing upon them.
○ If a person doubts whether or not they’ve left off a rukn, it’s as if they’ve left it off
so it takes the ruling of leaving off a rukn.
■ If someone doubts whether they’ve done one or two sajdahs for example,
they have to assume and build up from the minimum that they are certain
of (‫)البناء على اليقين‬. So in this case, if they’ve already moved on from the
rak’ah wherein they doubt that they’ve left off a rukn, that rak’ah has
become invalid and at the end they would do Sujûd as-Sahw.
○ If a person doubts the number of rak’ât they’ve completed, they also do ‫البناء على‬
‫—اليقين‬they take the minimum and act upon it.
○ If a person doubts about adding a rukn to the salâh whilst doing that action (the
action which they doubt whether it is extra or not), they are obligated to do Sujûd
as-Sahw.
○ If the doubt of increasing a rukn occurs after they’ve gone past the act which they
doubt the increase in, this doubt is disregarded and it’s not legislated for them to
do Sujûd as-Sahw.

Extra Rulings
➢ If a person does Sujûd as-Sahw before the taslîm and then realizes after the taslîm that the
sujûd was not legislated (i.e. they didn’t actually make a mistake in the salâh), they are
obligated to do a second Sujûd as-Sahw because they added sajdatayn to the salâh which
were not part of it.
➢ If a person doubts that they’ve left off a rukn and then became sure that they did not, they
continue and don’t do anything extra because now the doubt is gone.
➢ Leaving off a Sujûd as-Sahw which is recommended to be done before the taslîm on
purpose whilst having knowledge of its obligation renders the salâh invalid.
➢ Intentionally leaving off a Sujûd as-Sahw which is recommended after the taslîm (one
case) means they are sinful but the salâh is still valid. Since the sajdatayn are legislated
after the taslîm, they are not part of the main salâh.
 ➢ If a person makes several mistakes which require Sujûd as-Sahw in the salâh, doing
Sujûd as-Sahw once is sufficient for all of them.
➢ If a person leaves off a Sujûd as-Sahw legislated before the taslîm and they have not left
the place where they prayed and only a short period of time has passed, then they do
Sujûd as-Sahw in that place straight away (say takbîr, do sujûd, the sitting in between,
another sujûd, at-Tashahhud, and then the taslîm).
➢ If a long time has passed, or they’ve left the place in which they had prayed, or they’ve
done something which would invalidate the salâh such as breaking their wudû’ or
speaking, they are not required to do Sujûd as-Sahw. The obligation has fallen off them
and they are excused.

‫اللهم صل وسلم على نبينا محمد وعلى آله وصحبه أجمعين‬