Must I Make Up Prayers after Omitting a Word of the Shafi‘i Tashahhud?
Answered by Shaykh Irshaad Sedick
Question
In the tashahhud, at the part “salamun alayna wa ala ibadillahis salihin,” I have unfortunately been reciting “salamun alayna ibadillahis salihin” out of ignorance. Are all my prayers from the time of this mistake invalid, and do they need to be made up?
Answer
In the Name of Allah, the Merciful and Compassionate.
May Allah reward you for wanting your prayer to be sound.
In the Shafiʿi school, dropping “wa ala” leaves the minimum of the final tashahhud incomplete, so those prayers are not valid in the relied-upon (muʿtamad) position. Even so, you may follow the Maliki school for your past prayers, if they were otherwise valid there, and need not make them up. Recite it correctly from now on.
The Minimum Wording Is Fixed
Imam Nawawi (Allah have mercy on him) gives the minimum of the tashahhud, which includes “salamun alayna wa ala ibadillahis salihin.” [Nawawi, Minhaj al-Talibin] Imam Ibn Hajar al-Haytami (Allah have mercy on him) adds that no word of this minimum may be replaced, even with a synonym, and notes that Ardabili’s al-Anwar implies it is treated like the Fatiha. [Ibn Hajar al-Haytami, Tuhfat al-Muhtaj] In the Fatiha, dropping even a single letter means the word must be recited again. [Bakri, Iʿanat al-Talibin]
Following Another School for Past Prayers
Imam Shubramallisi (Allah have mercy on him) records a fatwa of Imam Ibn Qasim al-Abbadi (Allah have mercy on him) and explains that it covers anyone who performs an act that is invalid for the Shafiʿis but valid in another recognized school, then learns of it: he may follow that school for what has passed. [Shubramallisi, Hashiya ala Nihayat al-Muhtaj] The Malikis count the tashahhud among the sunnas of the prayer, not its integrals. [Khalil, al-Mukhtasar] So your past prayers are valid by their position, as long as the rest of each prayer, your wudu included, met Maliki standards.
Learn the Words and Pray with Confidence
Learn the minimum wording well, and recite it slowly until it settles on your tongue. May Allah accept your prayers.
And Allah knows best.
Shaykh Irshaad Sedick
Related Answers
One. How Strictly Should One Adhere to the Words of the Testification of Faith (Tashahhud)? — Shaykh Irshaad Sedick: The minimum wording and its permitted variations.
Courses for Further Study
Each of these courses is free, and you can put your questions to its teacher as you study.
One. Essentials of Shafiʿi Law: Hadrami’s Safina al-Najat — Shaykh Irshaad Sedick: The essentials of purification and prayer from a short Hadrami primer.
Two. Understanding Shafiʿi Fiqh: Shatiri’s al-Yaqut al-Nafis Explained — Shaykh Irshaad Sedick: The next step in Shafiʿi fiqh, prayer included.
النصوص · Source-Texts
[النووي، منهاج الطالبين] «وأقله: التحيات لله، سلام عليك أيها النبي ورحمة الله وبركاته، سلام علينا وعلى عباد الله الصالحين، أشهد أن لا إله إلا الله، وأشهد أن محمدا رسول الله»
[ابن حجر الهيتمي، تحفة المحتاج] «وأنه لا يجوز إبدال لفظ من هذا الأقل ولو بمرادفه»
«وقضية كلام الأنوار أنه يراعى هنا التشديد وعدم الإبدال وغيرهما نظير ما مر في الفاتحة»
[البكري، إعانة الطالبين] «السابع: رعاية حروفها، فلو أسقط منها حرفا، ولو همزة قطع، وجبت إعادة الكلمة»
[الشبراملسي، حاشية على نهاية المحتاج] «سئل شيخنا سم عن امرأة شافعية المذهب طافت للإفاضة بغير سترة معتبرة جاهلة بذلك أو ناسية … فأفتى بالصحة وأنه لا محذور في ذلك»
«فإذا فعله على وجه فاسد عند الشافعي وصحيح عند غيره ثم علم بالحال جاز له أن يقلد القائل بصحته فيما مضى وفيما يأتي فتترتب عليه أحكامه»
[خليل، المختصر] «وسننها: سورة بعد الفاتحة في الأولى والثانية … وكل تشهد»
Shaykh Irshaad Sedick was raised in South Africa in a traditional Muslim family. He graduated from Dar al-Ulum al-Arabiyyah al-Islamiyyah in Strand, Western Cape, under the guidance of the late world-renowned scholar Shaykh Taha Karaan. Shaykh Irshaad received Ijaza from many luminaries of the Islamic world, including Shaykh Taha Karaan, Mawlana Yusuf Karaan, and Mawlana Abdul Hafeez Makki, among others. He is the author of the text “The Musnad of Ahmad ibn Hanbal: A Hujjah or not?” He has served as the Director of the Discover Islam Centre and Al Jeem Foundation. For the last five years till present, he has served as the Khatib of Masjid Ar-Rashideen, Mowbray, Cape Town. Shaykh Irshaad has thirteen years of teaching experience at some of the leading Islamic institutes in Cape Town. He is currently building an Islamic online learning and media platform called ‘Isnad Academy’ and has completed his Master’s degree in the study of Islam at the University of Johannesburg. He has a keen interest in healthy living and fitness.
