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Fatwa CenterHow to compensate for mistakes in prayer
Question
Please explain about how to compensate for different mistakes you might do in Salat (i.e. missing a Wajib or praying extra Rak'ah and other mistakes.
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad 
is His slave and Messenger.
The different mistakes that take place in prayer and how they could be compensated can be summarized in the following points:
1- If the praying person adds an act of prayer to it out of forgetfulness like: standing up when one should sit down, or making Rukoo' (bowing down) twice, or making more prostrations than needed, or praying five Rak'ahs instead of four in four-Rak'ahs prayers for instance, then, in such cases, one should prostrate for forgetfulness for making extra acts just after Tasleem regardless of whether the person remembered the addition while praying or after Tasleem.
2- If a praying person forgets to perform one pillar of the pillars of prayer: if he remembers it before he reaches the same act in the following Rak'ah, then he must perform that act and then do all acts that follow it. However, if he remembers the forgotten act after reaching it in the following Rak'ah, then, in this case, he does not return to it and that Rak'ah is invalid. If he remembers it after Tasleem, he must do that very act and all prayer acts that come after it and does the prostration of forgetfulness after Tasleem (saying Salaam to conclude the prayer). If a person forgets a whole Rak'ah, for example if he says Salaam after the third Rak'ah in a four Rak'ah prayer, then he should stand up without Takbeer (saying Allaahu Akbar) but with the intention of prayer, and he prays the fourth Rak'ah and says the Tashahhud and Tasleem, and then he should prostrate two prostrations for forgetfulness.
3- If a praying person forgets a Waajib (a highly recommended act) like forgetting the first Tashahhud, so if he remembers it or is reminded of it before fully standing up, he should sit down for Tashahhud and does not have to prostrate for forgetfulness.
Nevertheless, if he remembers it or is reminded of it after having fully stood up, then he should not return to the sitting position in order to say the Tashahhud; rather, he should continue his prayer and then prostrate for forgetfulness before Tasleem.
This is how the praying person should deal with any Waajib that he left out of forgetfulness, and which was not done in its normal sequence. So, he does not have to perform it but should compensate it by two prostrations of forgetfulness.
4- If the praying person doubts the number of Rak'ahs he performed, whether 3 or 4 for instance, he opts for the smaller number and completes his prayer accordingly. But he should perform the prostrations of forgetfulness before Tasleem. However, if one of the two options becomes more probable according to his estimation, then he acts according to that and performs two prostrations of forgetfulness after Tasleem.
5- If the praying person says a permissible statement in other than its sequence, like reciting some Quran in prostration, or Rukoo' (bowing down), or says the Tashahhud while standing, then his prayer does not become void and he is not obliged to prostrate for forgetfulness although doing so, is desirable.
6- If the praying person says the Tasleem out of forgetfulness before the end of the prayer and he remembers that shortly after, he completes the prayer and says the Tasleem, and then prostrates for forgetfulness.
If he forgets to prostrate for forgetfulness and says Tasleem, and does something that contradicts the prayer (different from the prayer), like speaking, then he should prostrate for forgetfulness and then says Tasleem.
7- If he is supposed to prostrate before and after Salaam for mistakes in his prayer (more than one mistake), he only prostrates for forgetfulness once before Salaam.
8- The person led in prayer prostrates following the Imaam. If the person led in prayer comes after the beginning of the prayer and the Imaam performed prostrations of forgetfulness after Salaam, then if the forgetfulness happened while he was praying with the Imaam, then he is obliged to prostrate for forgetfulness after the Salaam. But if the Imaam forgot before he joined the prayer with him, then he is not obliged to prostrate for forgetfulness.
For more details and evidence, please refer to the books of Fiqh (jurisprudence).
Allaah Knows best.
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