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What is the evidence for the obligation of performing the prostration of forgetfulness (sujood as-sahw) for someone who omitted a verse from Al-Fatiha during prayer?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

According to the Maliki and Hanafi schools, one prostrates for forgetfulness (sujud al-sahw) if they omit an ayah from Al-Fatihah. The well-known position among the Malikis is that if someone, whether an imam or praying alone, inadvertently omits an ayah from Al-Fatihah, they perform the prostration of forgetfulness before the tasleem, and then repeat the prayer as a precautionary measure, out of consideration for the view that Al-Fatihah is obligatory in every rak'ah. As for the Hanafis, Al-Fatihah is considered among the wajibats (necessary acts) of prayer, not its fara'id (obligatory acts). One performs the prostration of forgetfulness if they omit most of it, and some have said that one prostrates for omitting even a single ayah from it.

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

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