What to Do When Forgetting Two Cycles of Prayer?

Answered by Ustadh Sufyan Qufi

Question

If you’re praying a four cycles obligatory prayer and you accidentally performed only two cycles instead of four what do you do?

Answer

In the name of Allah, Most Compassionate, Most Merciful,

I pray this finds you in the best of states.

If you have exited an obligatory prayer of four cycles after only performing two cycles of this prayer then this prayer is invalid and you will have to repeat this prayer in a correct manner to fulfill your duty.

The reason for this is that an obligatory prayer of four cycles, such as Zuhr, won’t be the Zuhr prayer unless it has been performed with four cycles. The Zuhr prayer is by definition a four cycles prayer. Less than that is not a Zuhr prayer. [Al-‘Ayni, al-Binaya]

And Allah knows best.

[Ustadh] Sufyan Qufi

Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani