Select a passage to highlight it. Click or tap a highlight to remove it.
Text and translation
English translation
1239. It was narrated from Abû Sa'eed that the Prophet ﷺ said: "If one of you is not sure about his prayer, let him forget about what he is unsure of and complete his prayer on the basis of what he is sure of. When he is sure that he has completed it, let him prostrate twice while he is sitting. Then if he has prayed five (Rak'ahs), they (the two prostrations) will make his prayer even-numbered, and if he had prayed four, they will annoy and humiliate the Shaitân." (Sahîh)
Your commentary saves automatically in this browser, separate from the published commentary. It stays private unless you include it in a shared study file.
Commentary
1. "They will make his prayer even-numbered": that two prostrations would be elevated to the station of one prayer unit, and coupled with the fifth prayer-unit, they would become two voluntary units; and the former four units would be considered obligatory.
2. "They will annoy and humiliate Satan": because the forgetfulness had also occurred due to Satan's promptings, but the worshipper performed two additional prostrations. In other words, the whispering of the devil became
the cause of the worshipper's two more prostrations, whereas due to his refusal to prostrate the devil had been thrown out of the presence of Allāh. Therefore his abasement and earning notoriety is incumbent. Probably based on this point, performance of prostration has been legislated to counter forgetfulness.