Wajibs of Salaat: Sajdah-e-Sahw

The wajibs of namaz are to say (the sura of) Fatiha, to say one additional sura or ayat after the Fatiha, to say the additional sura in the first and second rakats of the fard prayers and in every rakat of the sunnats, to make the (two) sajdas one right after the other, to sit as long as the tashahhud in the second rakat, to say the Attahiyyatu while sitting in the last rakat, to make the tadil-i arkan, i.e. to be still as long as to say 'Subhanallah', [It is sunnat to be still longer than that.] to say "assalamu..." at the end of namaz, to say the qunut prayer, to say, for the imam, the ayats loudly in the prayers of morning, Friday, Iyd, Tarawih, Witr, and in the first two rakats of evening and night prayers, and finally to recite, for the imam as well as for a person performing namaz by himself, the ayats on the level of a whisper in the early and late afternoon prayers, in the third rakat of the evening prayer and in the third and fourth rakats of the night prayer. It is written is Bazaziyya that it is not makruh for one's recitation to be in a whisper to be heard by one or two people and that 'reciting loudly' means having been heard by many people.

It does not break namaz not to do one of the wajibs of namaz knowingly. Yet it is sinful. He who forgets or omits one of them must make the sajda-i sahw. He who forgets the zamm-i sura in the first and second rakats of a fard prayer of namaz says it in the third and fourth rakats, and he must make the sajda-i sahw. If one remembers during the ruku' that one has forgotten to make the qiraat, one immediately straightens up, makes the qiraat and then makes the ruku'. Also, a person who has made a fard or wajib before or after its prescribed time has to make the sajda-i sahw. For example, if a person says one part of the additional sura in the ruku' or delays the third rakat by saying a small prayer after the attahiyyatu, or if the imam recites ayats very softly instead of loudly or vice versa, the sajda-i sahw becomes necessary. The suras that are wajib for the imam to recite loudly are permissible for a person who performs namaz by himself to recite loudly as well as softly. In case several sajda-i sahws are necessary, making one will be enough. When the imam makes the sajda-i sahw, the jamaat also have to do it. If one person in the jamaat makes a mistake he does not make the sajda-i sahw. A person who arrives for the jamaat after the first rakat makes the sajda-i sahw together with the imam, and then completes his namaz. When a person forgets to sit and then remembers it while standing up for the third rakat, if his knees have already left the ground, he does not sit down, but instead makes the sajda-i sahw. When a person stands up instead of sitting in the last rakat, if he remembers before prostrating, he immediately sits down and (at the end) makes the sajda-i sahw because he has delayed the sitting. If he remembers after prostrating (the extra part of) his namaz which was fard becomes supererogatory. Making one more rakat, he sits for the sixth rakat and then completes it. If he sits for the fourth rakat as long as the tashahhud and then stands up for the fifth rakat instead of making the salam, and if he remembers this before going down for the sajda, he sits down, recites what he has not recited of the tashahhud and then makes the salam and afterwards the sajda-i sahw. If he has already prostrated for the sajda, he completes the sixth rakat and makes the sajda-i sahw. Thus he has completed the fard and has performed two rakats of the supererogatory. But, as declared (by savants), these two rakats do not replace the final sunnats of the early afternoon, evening or night prayer. For the sunnats are started with the takbir of tahrima. It is permissible for a late comer to the mosque to begin following the imam even as the imam makes the sajda-i sahw. It is wajib for a person to repeat the namaz in which he has knowingly omitted the sajda-i sahw, or has knowingly omitted one of the wajibs of the namaz, e.g. reciting the Fatiha. If he does not perform it again he becomes sinful. In Friday and 'Iyd prayers, the imam should not make the sajda-i sahw.

To make the sajda-i sahw, after making the salam to one side, you make two sajdas and then sit down to complete the namaz. It is also permissible to make the sajda-i sahw after making the salam to both sides as well as without making the salam at all.

If a person forgets how many rakats he has performed, and if this is the first time it has happened, he must make the salam and perform the namaz again. If it is his habit to get confused, he thinks and performs it as he strongly guesses to be correct. If he cannot guess strongly, he must judge from the point of view that he has performed less of the namaz than he should have, and complete it. If a person doubts whether he has performed a namaz, he performs it if the time is not over yet. If the time is over, he does not perform it.

If a person, getting confused on how many rakats of namaz he has performed, thinks and thus extends one rukn by one additional rukn and thereby delays the next rukn, he has to make the sajda-i sahw, even if he said some ayats or tasbihs in the interim. The fard (rules that must be fulfilled) in namaz are called rukn. Saying one ayat, the ruku, the two sajdas, and sitting in the last rakat are each a rukn. Thinking, when it delays a fard or wajib, necessitates a sajda-i sahw. For instance, if a person sitting in the last rakat thinks and delays the salam, the sajda-i sahw will be necessary. When the extra salawats and duas which one says are not intended to be sunnats but are due to wandering thoughts and reveries, delaying the wajib becomes a guilt. If one wonders whether one has performed some other prayer of namaz, or if one thinks of a worldly affair, the sajda-i sahw will not be necessary, even if it delays one rukn. If after finishing the namaz you have doubts as to how many rakats you have performed, this state is called having doubts. Just ignore it. If, after you have finished namaz, an honest Muslim says that you have performed it wrongly, you had better perform it again. If two true Muslims witness the same, it is wajib for you to perform it again. If the Muslim is not a sincere one, you must disregard what he says. If the imam says that they performed the namaz correctly while the jamaat says that they performed it wrongly, if the imam trusts himself or if he has a witness, the namaz does not have to be performed again.

If it is doubtful whether doing something is wajib or bidat, it is better to do it. If the doubt is on whether it is bidat or sunnat, it must not be done.

If you doubt whether you said the takbir of iftitah, whether you made an ablution, whether your clothes are clean, or whether you have made masah on your head, and if this doubt happens for the first time, you break the namaz and perform it again. But you do not have to perform an ablution, nor do you have to wash your clothes. However, if this happens all the time, you do not break the namaz, but go on and complete it.

SALAT-I WITR

It is written in Mawqufat: "Imam-i azam 'rahmatullahi 'alaih' said that the namaz of witr is wajib, but the two imams said that it is sunnat. [It is sunnat in the Maliki and Shafi'i Madhhabs, too.] Neither the adhan nor the iqamat is said before it. Before bowing for the ruku' in the third rakat, it is wajib to say a certain Arabic prayer. He who does not perform it during its appointed time has to make qada of it. It is necessary to make its niyyat (intention) as 'the Witr'. The namaz of witr consists of three rakats. You make the salam after the third rakat is finished. You say the Fatiha and the additional sura in all three rakats. In the third rakat, after saying the zamm-i sura, you raise both hands up to your ears without hanging them down along your sides, and say 'Allahu akbar.' Then, after fastening your hands without hanging them down along your sides, you say the two well-known prayers of Qunut, performance of which is sunnat. A person who does not know these prayers of Qunut recites the istighfar three times. For instance, he says, 'Allahummaghfir li.' Or he says the ayat of 'Rabbanatina...' up to the end once. Prayers of Qunut are not said in any namaz other than the Witr namaz. Only in Ramadan, the Witr namaz is performed in jamaat. In Ramadan, those who do not perform the fard of the night prayer in jamaat may not perform the tarawih and witr in jamaat. For the tarawih is performed with the same jamaat with whom the night prayer is performed. It is written in Hindiyya, "A person (who is late for the fard) performs the fard individually and joins the jamaat performing the tarawih. Later he completes those rakats of tarawih which he has missed. One who has not performed the tarawih in jamaat may perform the witr behind the imam with whom he has performed the fard. According to a report, it is sahih for one who goes to another mosque after performing the witr in jamaat to follow another imam by intending for the fard or tarawih while the imam is performing the fard or tarawih, respectively. If he sees that the tarawih is being performed, he performs the fard individually in one corner and then follows the imam. If the imam bows for the ruku' of the witr prayer soon, you must catch up with the imam in the ruku' by saying (the qunut prayers) quickly or by leaving them half-finished. He who forgets the qunut does not say it after the ruku', but makes the sajda-i sahw at the end of the namaz. If the imam does not say the qunut, the jamaat does not say it either. When an imam in the Shafi'i Madhhab says the qunut after straightening up from the ruku' in the morning prayer, a person in Hanafi Madhhab who has been following him does not say the qunut, but waits standing. Though it is very blessed to perform the witr namaz after midnight, he who will not be able to wake up must perform it early, after the final sunnat of night prayer together with the night prayer." It is not sahih to perform the namaz of witr before the fard of the night prayer. To perform them in this order is wajib according to Imam-i azam. One who performed it before the fard by mistake does not perform it again. But according to the two Imams, the namaz of witr follows the night prayer. It should be performed again by the person who performed it before the fard of the night prayer.

SAJDA-I TILAWAT :

There are ayats of sajda at fourteen places in the Qur'an al-karim. For anyone who reads or hears one of them, even if he does not understand its meaning, it is wajib to make one sajda (prostration). If a person is in a place where someone else is reading it, but does not hear it, he does not make the sajda. A person who writes or spells an ayat of sajda does not make the sajda. A person who hears or reads its translation makes the sajda if he understands that it is an ayat of sajda.

It is wajib for those people for whom it is fard to perform namaz to make the sajda upon hearing a sajda-i tilawat. For this reason, even a drunk or junub person who hears the ayat of sajda has to make sajda when he performs an ablution (later). If a person is so drunk that he is unconscious, it is not wajib for him to make the sajda neither when he himself says the ayat nor when he hears it. According to (some) scholars, when a sleeping, unconscious or mad person says the ayat, it is wajib for those who hear him to make the sajda. But it is more acceptable that when such people or birds recite the ayat, the sajda should not be made. The reason for this is that their reading is not real, correct reading. Real reading means the reading whereby you understand that you are reading the Qur'an al-karim. If a child is old enough to realize what he is doing, those who hear his reciting the ayat have to make the sajda. If he is smaller, it is not necessary. To be exempted from performing namaz, a mad person must have been mad for (a duration of time covering) at least six prayer times. To be exempted from fasting, he must have been insane day and night for a month, and exemption from giving the zakat requires him having been insane continuously for one year. Yet, no matter what time, if he reads the ayat while he is insane, the sajda is not necessary. If he says it while he is sane, the sajda is necessary. The sajda is not wajib for those who hear the echo of the ayat reflected from mountains, deserts or other places or for those who hear it from birds. When the ayat of sajda is read or written syllable by syllable, the sajda is not necessary. It is wajib for Muslims to make the sajda when they hear a disbeliever read the ayat. It is written in Durr-ul-muntaqa that, "It must be a human voice." The sound that is heard on the radio, as it will be explained with more detail later, is not human voice, but it is the reproduction of lifeless metal which sounds similar to the voice of the person reading the Qur'an. Therefore, it is written in Al-fiqh-u-alal- Madhhahib-il-arba'a that "It is not wajib for a person hearing the ayat of sajda read on a phonograph [gramophone, tape recorder or radio] to make the sajda of tilawat."

To make the sajda of tilawat, with an ablution, you stand towards the qibla, say Allahu akbar without lifting your hands up to the ears, and prostrate for the sajda. In the sajda you say Subhana rabbiyal-ala three times. Then while standing you say Allahu akbar to complete the sajda. It is necessary to make the niyyat first. Without the niyyat it is not acceptable. In case you have to say (an ayat of tilawat) while performing namaz, you immediately make an additional ruku' or sajda, and then stand up and go on with your recitation (of the Qur'an). If you bow for the ruku' of namaz after saying a couple of normal ayats after the ayat of sajda and if you intend for the sajda of tilawat while doing so, the ruku' or the sajdas of the namaz will stand for the sajda of tilawat. When performing namaz in jamaat, in the event that the imam says an ayat of sajda, you make an additional ruku' and two sajdas together with the imam, even if you did not hear the imam say the ayat. The jamaat must make niyyat in the ruku'. Outside of namaz, the sajda of tilawat may be postponed until some other time. Also, a person who is junub or without an ablution or drunk has to make if after purifying himself. When a woman in her monthly period hears the ayat it is not wajib for her to make the sajda. He who reads the same ayat of sajda several times at one sitting, or who hears it read, makes one sajda for all the readings. So is the case with saying the prayer of salawat upon saying or hearing the blessed name of Hadrat Muhammad 'sall-Allahu alaihi wa sallam'. If two ayats of sajda are read in one gathering, two sajdas are necessary. A person who hears an ayat of sajda being read while he is performing namaz makes the sajda after namaz.

It is written at the end of the chapters concerning the sajda-i tilawat in the books Durr-ul- mukhtar and Nur-ul-izah: "Imam-i Nasafi (rahmat-Allahi ta'ala 'alaih) says in his book Kafi that if a person, in order to relieve himself from sorrow and distress, entreats Allahu ta'ala by heart, recites the fourteen ayats of sajda [standing], and prostrates for the sajda after reciting each, Allahu ta'ala will protect him against troubles and disasters." When standing up after the last sajda, he holds out his hands, and prays so that he himself and all Muslims will be rescued and protected from the disasters and troubles falling upon their world and their din.

The Sajda of Shukr (gratitude) is like the sajda of tilawat. It is mustahab for a person who has been given a blessing or who has been rescued from a calamity to make the sajda of shukr for Allahu ta'ala. In the sajda he first says, "Al-hamd-u-lillah." Then he says the tasbihs of sajda. It is makruh to make the sajda of shukr after namaz. It is written in the hundred and twenty-fourth letter of the first volume of Maktubat-i Mathumiyya. Also, it is tahrimi makruh to do those mubahs (things, actions permitted by the din) which the ignorant may think sunnat or wajib. It causes further invention of bidats.

While describing the namaz of Witr, the book Radd-ul-mukhtar states: "Commandments that are fard (necessary, compulsory) both to believe and to do are called fard. He who disbelieves a fard becomes a disbeliever. He who does not do it will be tormented in Hell if he does not repent and make his tawba. Those commandments that are not fard but wajib (necessary) to believe and fard to do are called wajib. He who disbelieves the fact that something is wajib does not become a disbeliever. He who does not do a wajib will be tormented in Hell, too, if he does not make his tawba. He who disbelieves the fact that the wajib is worship and necessary to do, becomes a disbeliever. For it has been declared unanimously (by savants) and indispensably that it is wajib. Those commandments that are clearly declared in the Qur'an al-karim and which have been understood unanimously are called fard. Those commandments that are declared unclearly in the Qur'an or which have been communicated by only one Sahabi are called wajib.

There are four groups of witnesses and documents teaching the Shariat. The first group are those whose proof and specific meaning are certain. In this group are those ayats that are understood clearly and those hadiths that have been communicated by tawatur, that is, unanimously, and which are clearly understood. The second group are those with a certain proof and an inferred meaning. Those ayats that cannot be understood clearly are in this category. The third group are those with an inferred proof but a certain meaning. Those clear hadiths reported by only one Sahabi are in this group. Both the proof and the meaning of the fourth group are inferred. In this group are hadiths that are reported by one Sahabi and which cannot be understood clearly. The first group includes the fards and the harams; the second and the third groups include the wajibs and the tahrimi makruhs, and the fourth group includes the sunnats, the mustahabs and tanzihi makruhs. It is bidat to refuse a report from one Sahabi, or qiyas, without a sound explanation."