Sujud Sahwi

Sujud Sahwi or Sajdah of forgetfulness occurs during the ritual salat prayer. Out of forgetfulness a person can either omit obligatory parts of salat (Qabli) or add to the salat (Ba'adi). In either cases the person corrects his/her salat by doing the Sujud Sahwi.

Reason for Sujud Sahwi

The reason behind the prostration of forgetfulness and for that matter unintentional excess and deficiencies (in the number of any essential pillar of the prayer) or misplaced utterance, standing and sitting is that Iblis distracts our attention and creates disorder in prayer.

Therefore, after prayer one performs two prostrations so as to rub his nose in the ground and to inform him that every time he creates disorder, you will again perform prostration before God.

Hadrat ‘Ali said: “The external appearance {zahir} of the sujud is the placing of the forehead on the ground with sincerity and humility, but its esoteric essence {batin} is the detachment of the heart from all perishable things, attachment of the heart to the eternal abode, and relief from pride, fanaticism and all worldly attachments.

See also

• Sujud