Mu' meneen Brothers and Sisters,

As Salaam Aleikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.  (May Allah's Peace, Mercy and Blessings be upon all of you)

One of our brothers/sisters has asked this question:

in taraweeh, if the imam does not make intention for a sajdah, does our namaz not count?.if the imam does not do a sajdah is this a gunnah

(There may be some grammatical and spelling errors in the above statement. The forum does not change anything from questions, comments and statements received from our readers for circulation in confidentiality.)

Answer:

Sajdah in taraweeh

In the name of Allah, We praise Him, seek His help and ask for His  forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides none can misguide, and whoever He allows to fall astray, none can guide them aright. We bear witness that there is no one (no idol, no person, no grave, no prophet, no imam, no dai, nobody!) worthy of worship but Allah Alone, and we bear witness that Muhammad(saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of His Messengers.

We are not able to determine, which exact ‘sajdah’ you are referring to. If the Imam forgets to do one of the ‘sajdahs’ in the actions of prayer, then that ‘rakah’ will not be counted and the imam has to pray that rakah again.

But if by the ‘sajdah’ in Taraweeh, you mean that the imaam does not perform sajdah while reciting the Holy Quran with a ‘sajdah-aayah’ in it, it is obviously not the right thing to do; but the prayer will be valid.

In this case, if the imam forgot and did not do sajdah during the prayer itself, he should make a sajdah after the prayer, and so should the believers who prayed behind him.

The performance of the prostration whenever the ‘sajdah aayahs’ are recited from the Holy Quran, is a Sunnah or Way of the Messenger of Allah (saws). If, perchance, one forgets to make prostration, it is not a sin and the believer should do the prostration later, whenever he remembers it.

Whatever written of Truth and benefit is only due to Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error is of me. Allah Alone Knows Best and He is the Only Source of Strength.

Your Brother in Islam,

Burhan