Reviewed By: Ustadh Abdelghaffar Mohammad Abdelghaffar Eldela
Salat (Salah, Namaz) or Prayer is the most important pillar of Islam; Allah Almighty will question it on the Day of Resurrection. Performing Prayer is obligatory for every adult Muslim. Salah is a ritual prayer having prescribed conditions, and one must perform Salaah while fulfilling those conditions. We often perform Prayers or Salah as a practice or as a part of habit but tend to forget the fundamental essence of Namaz and make many mistakes during Prayer.
Ten common mistakes and errors in Prayers or Salah are as follows:
Delaying the Salah intentionally
While busy with worldly affairs, we often delay the Salah from its preferred time. Deferring Salah is the most common mistake in Prayer made by most of us. We think that Praying is the last thing to do, and we must attend to other matters first. Many workers delay Zuhr and Asr Prayer till night-time. AlQuran speaks strictly on guarding our Salat:
“Guard strictly (five obligatory) As-Salawat (the prayers) especially the middle Salat (i.e., Asr Prayers)” [2:238]
Here, safeguarding the Salat means performing it at its prescribed time and steadfastly upon it. Narrated Ibn Umar (R.A): Allah’s Messenger (P.B.U.H) said:
“Whoever misses the Asr prayers (intentionally), then it is as if he lost his family and property.” [Al-Bukhari]
Another Hadith explains the importance of praying on time. Narrated Abu Al-Malih (R.A):
“We were with Buraidah in a battle on a cloudy day, and he said, “Offer the Asr prayer early as the Prophet (P.B.U.H) said, “Whoever omits the Asr prayer, all his (good) deeds will be lost.” [Al-Bukhari]
Reciting Holy Quran fast in the Prayers
We must pause and take breaks while reciting the Holy Quran during Salat. We should not recite the Surah so fast that the verse gets intermingled. One of the Hadith emphasizes this issue:
“The Prophet (P.B.U.H) used to pause after each verse of Surah al-Fatiha. [Abu Dawood]
Mistake in moving before the Imam in congregational prayers
One should not race with the Imam, i.e., try to move before the Imam or with the Imam, because the correct ruling is when Imam says Allahu Akbar. The person following the Imam in Prayers should say, Allahu Akbar. Not before Imam or with Imam. This Hadith of the Prophet (P.B.U.H) states:
“Surely the imam is there to be followed” [Muslim]
Another Hadith states:
The Prophet (P.B.U.H) said:
“Does not the one who raises his head before the Imam does fear that Allah would transform his head into a donkey’s head” [Muslim]
Performing the Salah hastily
One should perform Salat slowly and calmly. One should perform Rukoo or Sujood calmly. To complete the Rukoo, one must stay in Rukoo posture long enough to recite “Subhan Rabbi you Adtheem” at least three times. Similarly, the person should say “Subhan-a Rabbi yal-ala” three times slowly for the Sujood. This Hadith commands to complete the Rukoo and Sujood correctly:
The Messenger of Allah (P.B.U.H) said:
“The worst thief is the one who steals from his prayer.” People asked: ‘Messenger of Allah! How could one steal from his Prayer?’ He said: “By not completing its rukoo and sujood” [at-Tabarani]
The Prophet (P.B.U.H) said:
“He who does not complete his rukoo and sujood, his prayer is void” [Abu Dawood]
Gazing right, left, or upward during Salat
While performing Salah, one should concentrate on looking to the point where the head is placed during Sujood rather than looking upwards because this may lose concentration. In the Hadith recorded by Sahih Muslim, the Prophet (P.B.U.H) said:
“Let those who raise their gaze during prayer stop doing so, or else their sights would not return to them” (i.e., they will lose their eyesight) [Muslim]
Performing Sujood improperly
The most common mistake observed in Prayers is to perform Sujood by resting only the tip of the head on the floor.
The Prophet (P.B.U.H) said:
“I am commanded to prostrate on seven bones the forehead and the nose, the two hands [palms], the two knees, and the two feet” [Muslim]
Not performing Prayers during illness or while traveling
The Prophet (P.B.U.H) always performed Prayer even during His last days before death. He (P.B.U.H) never neglected it, even during combats. Prayer is obligatory and must be performed in any condition. If a person cannot perform ablution due to his illness, he may perform tayammum (dry ablution). He may perform Salah while sitting or even lying down if he cannot stand in Prayer. The same is the case while traveling. The person can combine 2 Salah while traveling, i.e., Zuhr Prayer and Asr Prayer. or Maghrib Prayer and Isha Prayer.
Crossing in front of a person who is performing Salah
The Prophet (P.B.U.H) said:
“Were the one who crosses in front of a praying person to know the consequences of doing so, he would have waited for forty better than to cross in front of him” [Bukhari]
Going to the Mosque to perform Salah with a quick walk
When Prayer approaches, some person fears that he might miss his Salah; for this fear, most of us try to walk quickly or run for fear of missing some part of the Prayer; this is not allowed, according to Hadith. The Messenger of Allah (P.B.U.H) said:
“When prayer has already started, do not walk quickly to join in. Proceed calmly and reposefully; then join in whichever part you catch up, and complete whichever part you missed”. [Bukhari and Muslim]
Eating food with a foul smell before performing Prayers
Consuming foods with a terrible smell like garlic or onion should not be taken before the Salah because the bad breath may irritate the angels and the praying people. It should be against the Islamic dietary Laws. The Prophet (P.B.U.H) said:
“He who eats from the smelly plant [garlic or onion], let him come not near our mosque; the angels are bothered by that which bothers men” [Muslim]
May Allah guides us to perform our Salah perfectly and help us to guard our Salat so when on the Day of Judgment we are questioned about our prayers, we may succeed. Ameen.
Conclusion
Salah is such a beautiful way for us to connect with Allah (SWT), but we all make mistakes sometimes. The important thing is to be aware of those common slip-ups and try our best to improve. Don’t be too hard on yourself—what matters most is the effort you put into making your prayer more meaningful and focused. Allah sees our intentions and rewards us for trying! By learning and being mindful, we can make our Salah stronger and more heartfelt. Let’s keep growing and perfecting our prayer together, insha’Allah. You’ve got this!
I had a terrible day of the week. And I believe that humankind is leaving to wrongsituation through people. But I scanned your writing and now I agree that in future we will have good years by clever people as you.
thank u soo much for ur effort.
Please correct my ignorance If one preforms sajood as in
6 How to perform Sujood (Prostration)
surely they would be in the way of other members of the congregation
JazakAllah Khair…
I am so happy to learn about the mistakes of salah….lots of thanks to him who posted these valuable hadith…..
may Allah the bless the effort of those who are makin knowledge very easy for people to get. on the issue of prayin before the imam or together with him had been a major problem of some muslims. jazakallahu khairan
alhamdulillah
thank you so much….may allah bless you
this was very heilpful for me to teach my children. and of course i was the main beneficiary. jazakkallahu khairaa.
wa iyyaka brother 🙂
shukran shukran ………………………..jazak allahu khair
Assalamu alaikum,
can u plz add references of hadidh used here……..Jazak Allah
Dear,
Very Good effort, May Allah accept your effort.
Please if you can mention that in prayer, “One should be in state that either he is looking at Allah or Allah is looking at him” as per hadiths. That whole purpose of namaz is to talk to Allah or be present in front of Him and present yourself to Allah and when one has this feeling, he would be very humble in front of Allah and He would recite the best he can, and he would hurry to reach to the namaz leaving everything behind.
So Major thing is one should be like as he is in front of Allah actually.
May Allah Bless you.
Aslam O Alikum
assallamu`alaikum.. i know now how important to do our 5 times salah…jazak allahu khair
Thank you for teching us about the mistake we do It helped me to learn so Mach mistake I made May Allah subahanatala gives u reward good thing u doing assalamulaikim
Thank u for teaching as a the mistake we do in our life’s , how to pray May Allah bless u with good rewards assalamuwalikum
Ameen! maas Salaam. 🙂
Please can you tel me if a women make big mistake , gets pregnent with Someone Then she understand she made big mistake she had abortion . And ask Allah for giveness for what she did . Only she has no choice to do this . She wish she hadn’t dan this ,now she realise what she did . Please can u replay my question thank you assalamuwalikum
Allah’s door for repentance are always open sister Asma Khatun! 🙂
One must repent and do Istaghfar Heartedly. Allah Listens and forgives even the biggest sinner. if only he repents whole heartedly and sincerely.
Can please tel me about marriage . And husbend and wife’s right to each other thank May Allah bless u
Dear Asma
[email protected]
please read it here. 🙂
https://www.alquranclasses.com/beauty-marital-relationship-islam/?ap_id=sk
The 9 point is only forbidden inside the masjid premises.. You should have been more careful. Edit that ASAP.
No it is not for inside the Premises alone. It is in general. For friday Prayer even. Allah forbids us to go running to the mosque. A Muslim shouldn’t look Worried or agitated while going for Salah Instead he should proceed with calm demeanor.
thank you very much for the post.
You are welcome sister.
Keep visiting us. 🙂
Performing Salah in correct way and timings never troubled anyone, even you get managed and puntual for everything. This is the kind of discipline we need for our worldly duties also. Also leaving someone in emergencies for performing salah is not at all allowed.
JAZAKALLAH for your participation in talk 🙂
keep visiting our blog, your participation is highly needed.
I have a doubt. My brother doing salah very slowly . Is it a problem.? He takes minimum half an hourfor compleate the salah.Please give a reply to this question
Haris. As long as he’s performing his salah with full devotion , concentration and fulfilling all the Musnoon and Fardh Acts of hios salah. then the length of time is no problem 🙂
Very beneficial list. Really needed some clarification on certain aspects and this helped me. May Allah bless you
Excellent presentation.It makes me careful while performing namaz.
JAZAKALLAH for reading and appreciating Md aminul haq…
keep visiting our web site.
During ruku’ say subhaana rabbi-al azeem / not adheem (it changes the whole meaning)
Jazakallah
showing right way towards the Sunah
Appreciated
may Allah Bless you.
may Allah bless you.
Salam Alaikom,
Just to clarify, the middle prayer is fajr, not asr, as the Islamic calendar the day starts at magreb.
Identifying the middle prayer which is mentioned in the verse (interpretation of the meaning): “Guard strictly (five obligatory) As‑Salawaat (the prayers) especially the middle Salaah (i.e. the best prayer). And stand before Allaah with obedience [and do not speak to others during the Salaah (prayers)]” [al-Baqarah 2:238] is one of the matters concerning which there is a difference of opinion among the scholars, and concerning which there are approximately 20 opinions, as listed by al-Haafiz Ibn Hajar (may Allah have mercy on him) in Fath al-Baari (8/197). Al-Haafiz ‘Abd al-Mu’min al-Dimyaati (may Allah have mercy on him) wrote a book concerning that entitled Kashf al-Mughatta fi Tabyeen al-Salaat al-Wusta. The strongest of these opinions are two:
1. That it is Fajr prayer
This is the view of Abu Umaamah, Anas, Jaabir, Abu’l-‘Aaliyah, ‘Ubaydah ibn ‘Umayr, ‘Ata’, ‘Ikrimah, Mujaahid and others, and it is one of the two views of Ibn ‘Umar and Ibn ‘Abbaas.
It is also the view of Maalik and of al-Shaafa’i as stated in al-Umm. End quote from Fath al-Baari (8/196).
2. That it is ‘Asr prayer
This is the view of most of the scholars, and it is the correct and reliable view, because of the evidence to that effect in the Qur’aan and the Sunnah.
This is the view of ‘Ali ibn Abi Taalib. Al-Tirmidhi and al-Nasaa’i narrated that Zurr ibn Hubaysh said: We said to ‘Ubaydah: Ask ‘Ali about the middle prayer. He asked him and he said: We used to think that that was Fajr, until I heard the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) say on the day of al-Ahzaab: “They distracted us from the middle prayer, ‘Asr prayer.” This report states that it is ‘Asr in the words of the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him). The argument for it being Fajr is strong, but the correct view is that it is ‘Asr.
This is the view of Ibn Mas’ood and Abu Hurayrah, and it is the correct view according to the madhhab of Abu Haneefah; it is also the view of Ahmad and the view which most of the Shaafa’is adopted because of the soundness of the hadeeth.
Al-Tirmidhi said: It is the view of most of the scholars among the Sahaabah.
Al-Mawardi said: This is the view of the majority of the Taabi’een.
Ibn ‘Abd al-Barr said: It is the view of most of scholars of hadeeth.
Among the Maalikis, this is the view of Ibn Habeeb, Ibn al-‘Arabi and Ibn ‘Atiyyah. End quote from Fath al-Baari, 8/196.
Al-Nawawi (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
What is indicated by the saheeh hadeeths is that it is ‘Asr, and this is the favoured view.
awesome helped alot tnku
Jazakallah may Allah accept our ibada ameen
Ameen Abubakar
everybody should study the Hadiths books for salat. We should ask the masla-masael to maufti
Assalamu Alaikum,
I love Namaj and I prayed always. I like to tell everybody to pray our salat prayer. It is very important for our religion. Thank you for sharing this wonderful article for Namaj Prayer
Assalamu Aalaikum,
Sya the Zuhr starts at 12:30 till the Asr start time.
Can we pray at any time in between these hours or is there a strict rule to Pray as early as possible?
@Imran!
wa alikum salaam.
yes you can pray any time in between, but it is preferred to pray AS EARLY AS POSSIBLE !and delay without any solid reason is not appreciated ! you can search for such ahadeeth regarding this matter.
MAY ALLAH BLESS ALL MUSLIMS WHO DO THEIR NAMAZ PROPERLY.
ALLHAMDULLILAH.
@haajra
JAZAKALLAH for your duas ! ameen
keep visiting us !
If one cannot cross in front of a person praying then all Hajj will come to a stand still.
How to make corrections in salah
Asalamo alai kum, just wanted to ask regarding fajr, it was ment to start at 6,37am but ive read the two Sunnat and thrn realised im reading early, at 6.23 ive completed the two Sunnat prayer and waiting till its 6.37am I read at im bit concerend as I dont know wether ive done the right thing, could someone help me out on this,
@shabanam
wa alikum salam. sorry sister! i am not qualified to answer this ! how ever keep visiting us.
Pl update me on new posts….
@abdul jaleel
brother you can subscribe us. see the right panel of page and subscribe us. and join our facebook page “i luv holy Quran” for more updates.
I really like the piece. It has a lot of education. May Allah bless you.
@samuel prah
you are most welcome to visit our site and ask about your queries. we also quran classes, and would like to invite you to our free 3 days trial class. here is the link to free trial: https://www.alquranclasses.com/registration/?ap_id=af
JazakAllahu Kairan for d knowledge online. Amin
@Afolabi
wa iyyakum. keep visiting us.
Assalamu alaikum,
Dear Brother, If you intended to do obligatory prayer, can you follow someone who is doing sunnah prayer? I need more lights please
If a Muslim prays but also does bad deeds, he will obviously be punished for his bad deeds. But does that means his prayers are no good and will he be awarded for the prayers he offered?
@AJ
i am sorry brother, i am not qualified enough to answer you.
keep visiting us.
Amiin amiin jazajallahu khayr yaa iqwanii thank u for ur support may allah guide as to the straight path
Jazakallahu Khair
pls I make a mistake when praying by forgeting to sit down between ruku an Sajada
@hajra
how do you go directly to sajda with out sitting ! may be practicing it other then namaz in form of exercise would help !
Yes All These SALAH Mistakes are done by Muktadi So we have to avoid to do this.
JAZAAK ALLAH KHAIRA
Asalamu alikum brother
Zajakallah kheer
@adan
wa iyyakum 🙂 keep visiting us.
Asalamualaiykum.
I am more amazed than confused by the hadith regarding ” prostration on seven bones “. Subhan allah.
I think i know the answer but i don’t know if its the correct interpretation or not.
Can you please explain how a forehead , nose , 2 hands , 2 knees and 2 feet make 7 bones ?
@Bisma hassan
Asalam Alaykum…Technically your nose is made up of only cartlidge so there is no bone but it must be touching the ground during prostration 🙂 I am not a scholar but hopefully that helps.
As always, Allah knows best and may He reward us for our efforts. Salam!
Namaz is obligatory on every Muslim five times a day on prescribed time. It is such a precious gift for Muslims through which you will not only be able to reform your character, but also to gain love for good deeds.
Very good explanations
Thanks very much