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:

Salaam,
1. Can prayers be offered if there are mirrors around us and we can see ourselves in it while praying or doing tasleem?
2. If 4 rakahs of sunnat or nafl are prayed by a person by mistake and he/she realises in 4th rakah or after completing 3rd rakah what should b done. 

(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:

Mirrors and rakah count mistake

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.

Q-1. Can prayers be offered if there are mirrors around us and we can see ourselves in it while praying or doing tasleem?
There is absolutely no harm if one prays in a room which has some mirrors, or one can see himself in those mirrors.

Q-2. If 4 rakahs of sunnat or nafl are prayed by a person by mistake and he/she realises in 4th rakah or after completing 3rd rakah what should b done. 

We assume that a person wanted to pray two rakahs, and by mistake continued praying and performed the third or fourth rakah.

If one realizes the mistake in the third rakah, he should complete the prayer by praying the fourth rakah, and then do the ‘sajdah suhoo’ or prostration of forgetfulness.

If one realizes the mistake in the fourth rakah, he should complete the rakah, and then perform the ‘sajdah suhoo’ or prostration of forgetfulness.

Sahih Al-Bukhari Hadith 2.324 Narrated by Abu Huraira

The Messenger of Allah (saws) said, "When anyone of you stands for the prayers, Satan comes and puts him in doubts till he forgets how many Rakat he has prayed. So if this happens to anyone of you, he should perform two prostrations of Sahoo while sitting. "

There are two authentic narrations on how the Messenger of Allah (saws) performed the Sajdah-Sahoo and both are acceptable. Abu Sa'id al-Khudri reported that the Messenger of Allah (saws) did two sujjud before the taslim, and in the hadith of Dhul-Yadain narrated by Abu Hurairah, it is recorded that the Prophet (saws) made the prostrations after the taslim.

The way to perform the ‘Sajdah-Sahoo’ (or Sajdahs of forgetfulness) is to go into sajdah and glorify Allah, then sit and make supplication to Allah, then again go into sajdah and glorify Allah, and then perform the tasleems on either side.

This whole set of actions related above is called ‘sajdah-sahoo’ and is to be done only once at the end of the prayer, if the person has made a mistake/s in the prayer.

Sajdah-Sahoo 1:

After one has completed the prayer, and prays the ‘tashahud’; just before the tasleems of either side, one should make the two sajdahs for ‘sajdah-sahoo’ and then perform the taslems on either side.

Sajdah-Sahoo 2:

One completes the full prayer, prays the tashahud and makes the tasleems on either side. Immediately after the tasleems, one should make the two sajdahs for ‘sajdah-sahoo’ and then again perform the tasleems on either side.

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