Sujud Sahw: What the Prophet ﷺ Did When He Forgot in Salah

You stand up when you should have sat. You say the salam and someone whispers that you prayed three, not four. You lose count halfway through Isha. It happens to everyone, and it happened to the Prophet ﷺ too. Sujud sahw (often searched as sajda sahw) is the two extra prostrations he made when he forgot something in salah, and the hadith below show exactly what he did.

What is sujud sahw?

Sahw means forgetfulness or oversight. Sujud sahw is two prostrations made at the end of the prayer, while sitting, to make up for a slip: leaving something out, adding something by mistake, or being unsure what was done. The Sunnah shows the Prophet ﷺ doing it in different situations, sometimes before the salam and sometimes after it.

Below are four narrations from Bukhari and Muslim, each showing a different kind of forgetting. Read them as what the Prophet ﷺ did and taught; for the details of your own case, ask a qualified local scholar.

1. He missed the first tashahhud

‘Abdullah ibn Buhaynah (may Allah be pleased with him) reported:

The Prophet ﷺ stood up after the second rak‘ah instead of sitting for the first tashahhud, and the people stood with him. He did not go back. At the end, before the salam, he made two prostrations while sitting. HadeethEnc (hadith 3089) explains that these two prostrations made up for the tashahhud he had missed.

Try this: notice how the people simply followed the imam. If an imam stands up by mistake, the Companions’ example here was to stay with him, not to break away.

2. He ended the prayer too early

Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him) reported:

This is the well-known story of Dhul-Yadayn. The Prophet ﷺ was sure he had prayed the full prayer, so he checked with the people before acting. Then he completed the two missing rak‘ahs, gave the salam, and only after that made the two prostrations. HadeethEnc (hadith 4853) notes that he forgot as any human does, and through it Allah taught the rulings of forgetfulness in prayer.

In another narration he prayed five rak‘ahs of Zuhr instead of four. When he was told, he made two prostrations after the salam (Bukhari 1226).

Try this: if someone tells you after salah that you missed a rak‘ah, don’t brush it off. The Prophet ﷺ listened, checked, and put it right.

3. When you are unsure how many rak‘ahs you prayed

Abu Sa‘id al-Khudri (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:

Doubt about the count is the most common slip of all. The instruction is clear: drop the doubt and build on what you are certain of. If you are torn between three and four, you are sure of three, so you pray one more. HadeethEnc (hadith 11231) explains that the lesser number is the certain one. Then come two prostrations before the salam, and either way the devil loses.

Try this: the next time you lose count, don’t restart the whole prayer in frustration. Take the lower number, complete it, and make the two prostrations.

4. “I forget as you forget”

‘Abdullah ibn Mas‘ud (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Prophet ﷺ led a prayer and was told afterwards that something had been different. He prostrated twice, gave the salam, then turned to the people and said:

Muslim reports the same words (Muslim 572a). Two lessons stand out. The Prophet ﷺ asked to be reminded when he forgot, so correcting an imam gently is part of the Sunnah. And when certainty is not possible, the one praying aims for what is most likely correct and completes the prayer on that basis.

Try this: if you pray behind an imam who makes a slip, remind him the way the Companions did, calmly and without making a scene.

Before or after the salam: where scholars differ

These narrations show both. In the hadith of Ibn Buhaynah and Abu Sa‘id, the prostrations came before the salam. In the hadith of Dhul-Yadayn, the five rak‘ahs of Zuhr, and Ibn Mas‘ud’s hadith above, they came after it.

Scholars have worked out how to put these narrations together, and they reached different views on when the prostrations should come before the salam and when after. We don’t give a ruling here. Follow what your imam or a qualified local scholar teaches, and know that each way has a hadith behind it.

Bringing it together

Reflection: it is a mercy that these slips happened to the Prophet ﷺ himself. If he had never forgotten, every missed sitting and every lost count would feel like a ruined prayer. Instead, his own forgetting became the lesson: stay calm, take what you are sure of, complete the prayer, and let two prostrations repair the rest. Salah was never meant to be a test of perfect memory. It is a meeting with Allah that He made easy to put right.

Questions people ask

Key lessons

• Sujud sahw is two prostrations at the end of the prayer to repair a slip.
• The Prophet ﷺ made them before the salam when he missed the first tashahhud.
• He made them after the salam when he had ended the prayer early or added a rak‘ah.
• When unsure of the count, build on what you are certain of: the lower number.
• Forgetting is human. He asked to be reminded, so remind your imam gently.

Part of our Salah series: see all our salah articles in one place.

May Allah accept our prayers with all their gaps, and make us among those who stand before Him with humble hearts.

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