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The question

Is the prayer of one who rises from prostration saying, "Allah hears those who praise Him" valid?

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Source: FtawySummarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 20261 min readAlso available in العربية
The answer

If a worshipper adds a utterance from the same category as the prayer, such as saying "Sami'a Allahu liman hamidah (Allah hears those who praise Him)" instead of "Allahu Akbar (Allah is the Greatest)" or vice versa, their prayer is valid and not invalidated, whether done intentionally or out of forgetfulness.

Scholars differed on the necessity of performing the prostration of forgetfulness (sujud al-sahw) in this case: Imam Ahmad: He has two narrations: Prostration is not prescribed because the prayer is not invalidated by doing it intentionally, so it is not prescribed for forgetfulness. Prostration is prescribed based on the saying of the Prophet, peace be upon him: "If one of you forgets, let him prostrate twice while sitting." Imam Malik: Whoever says "Sami'a Allahu liman hamidah" instead of "Allahu Akbar" during the rising, should return and say "Allahu Akbar." If he does not return and proceeds, he should prostrate before the salutation (taslim).

Based on this, whoever says "Sami'a Allahu liman hamidah" while rising from prostration, must say "Allahu Akbar." If he says "Allahu Akbar," then he should prostrate before the salutation according to the view of Imam Malik and one of the two narrations from Imam Ahmad. However, if he does not say "Allahu Akbar" due to forgetfulness, he must prostrate before the salutation by unanimous agreement.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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