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What is the ruling on the prayer of one who intentionally misrecites a verse by substituting it, fearing stopping before the congregants?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

Your prayer is valid and not invalidated by what you mentioned. However, you should not substitute one verse for another, such as reciting "All-Knowing, All-Wise" instead of "All-Forgiving, All-Merciful." Some scholars have permitted this, basing their view on narrations from some Companions, like Ibn Mas'ud, who believed that the error is not in substituting the ending of one verse with the ending of another, as long as they are attributes of Allah. Rather, the error lies in reciting what is not from the Qur'an, or ending a verse of mercy with a verse of punishment, or vice versa. However, others, like Abu Ubayd al-Qasim ibn Sallam, interpreted these narrations as referring to unintentional substitution, and that the intent was not to fault someone who did so forgetfully, as long as all the words are attributes of Allah Almighty. Therefore, beware of intentionally substituting one verse for another.

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

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