What Are the Nullifiers of Salah?

The nullifiers of salah are statements, actions, or conditions that invalidate the salah when their relevant conditions are met. The salah is then not counted, and an obligatory salah must be repeated.

The ruling may differ according to the circumstances: Did the act occur deliberately or forgetfully? Did the worshipper know the ruling or was he or she unaware of it? Did it occur because of a need or necessity? Was it slight or excessive? Therefore, a particular salah should not be declared invalid merely because of doubt or because different issues appear similar.

First: Ritual Purity Is Nullified During Salah

If the worshipper's wudu is nullified during salah, the salah becomes invalid because freedom from ritual impurity is a condition of its validity, whether the nullifying event occurred voluntarily or involuntarily.

The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said: "Allah does not accept the salah of any one of you who has nullified his wudu until he performs wudu."

Agreed upon.

Whoever becomes certain that wind, urine, or feces has passed, or that another of the Nullifiers of Wudu has occurred, leaves the salah, purifies himself or herself, and repeats it. Mere doubt that wudu may have been nullified invalidates neither wudu nor salah.

Second: Deliberately Leaving a Condition of Salah Despite Being Able to Fulfill It

Salah is not valid when a person knowingly and deliberately leaves one of its conditions despite being able to fulfill it. Examples include:

1. Performing salah before its time begins.
2. Performing salah without purification from ritual impurity.
3. Deliberately performing salah with known najasah that can be removed.
4. Failing to cover the awrah.
5. Failing to face the qiblah.
6. Having no intention for the salah.

If someone learns during salah that there is najasah on an outer garment or shoe that can be removed while the awrah remains covered, it should be removed and the salah completed. If the najasah cannot be removed during the salah, the person stops, removes it, and then repeats the salah. If someone only learns of the najasah after finishing the salah, or had forgotten it, the salah is valid according to the stronger view.

To understand the distinction between a condition, a pillar, and an obligatory act, read Conditions, Pillars, and Obligatory Acts of Salah.

Third: Deliberately Leaving a Pillar of Salah

Salah is not valid without its pillars. Whoever deliberately omits a pillar, such as ruku, sujood, or tranquility, invalidates the salah.

The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said to the man who performed his salah incorrectly:

"When you stand for salah, say the takbir, then recite whatever is easy for you from the Quran. Then bow until you are tranquil in bowing. Then rise until you are standing upright. Then prostrate until you are tranquil in prostration. Then rise until you are tranquil while sitting. Then prostrate until you are tranquil in prostration. Then do that throughout your entire salah."

Agreed upon.

If a person forgets a pillar, sujood al-sahw alone is not sufficient. The omitted pillar and what follows it must be performed according to when it is remembered, and sujood al-sahw is then performed. The details are explained in the rulings of sujood al-sahw.

Fourth: Deliberately Leaving an Obligatory Act of Salah

An obligatory act of salah must not be deliberately omitted, such as the first tashahhud or the obligatory tasbih in ruku and sujood according to the scholars who regard it as obligatory. According to those scholars, a person who knowingly and deliberately omits an obligatory act despite being able to perform it invalidates the salah.

If an obligatory act is omitted forgetfully, the person neither stops the salah nor repeats the rakah because of it. Rather, it is corrected with sujood al-sahw according to the details explained in Sujood al-Sahw: Before or After Salam?.

Fifth: Deliberately Speaking Ordinary Human Speech

If a person deliberately speaks ordinary human speech during salah while knowing that he or she is praying and knowing that such speech is prohibited, the salah becomes invalid, whether the speech is brief or lengthy. Ordinary speech is not permitted merely because it concerns the salah. If something occurs, a man alerts the imam by saying tasbih, while a woman alerts him by clapping in the prescribed manner.

Zayd ibn Arqam, may Allah be pleased with him, said: "We used to speak during salah. A man would speak to the person beside him during salah until the verse was revealed: {And stand before Allah, devoutly obedient.} We were then commanded to remain silent and were forbidden to speak."

Agreed upon.

Muawiyah ibn al-Hakam al-Sulami, may Allah be pleased with him, said: "While I was performing salah with the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, a man among the people sneezed, so I said, 'May Allah have mercy on you.' The people stared at me, so I said, 'May my mother be bereaved of me! Why are you looking at me?' They began striking their hands against their thighs. When I saw them trying to make me remain silent, I became silent. When the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, finished the salah - may my father and mother be sacrificed for him - I had never seen a teacher before or after him who taught better than he did. By Allah, he neither rebuked me, struck me, nor insulted me. He said, 'Nothing of ordinary human speech is appropriate in this salah. It consists only of tasbih, takbir, and the recitation of the Quran.'"

Narrated by Muslim.

This hadith also indicates that, according to the stronger view, the salah of someone who speaks forgetfully or in ignorance of the ruling is not invalid, because the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, did not command Muawiyah, may Allah be pleased with him, to repeat it.

Sixth: Deliberately Eating or Drinking

Deliberately eating or drinking during an obligatory salah invalidates it because doing so contradicts the form of salah. If a remnant between the teeth passes with the saliva and is swallowed unintentionally, it is not treated as deliberate eating. A person may not deliberately chew or swallow it when it can be removed without excessive movement.

There is a difference of opinion among scholars concerning a small drink during a lengthy voluntary salah. The safer course is to avoid it because the basic rule is that a voluntary salah follows the same rulings as an obligatory salah except where evidence establishes otherwise. This disputed issue should not be treated as general permission to eat or drink during voluntary prayers.

Seventh: Excessive Consecutive Movement Without Necessity or Need

Slight movement, or movement prompted by a need, does not invalidate salah. Examples include adjusting one's clothing, carrying a child, opening a door with a few steps, preventing someone from passing, or removing something that is harming the worshipper.

Excessive consecutive movement without need, such that an observer would most likely think the person was not praying, invalidates the salah. It is not defined by a fixed number of movements; rather, the amount, continuity, and need are taken into consideration.

Allah Most High says: {Certainly will the believers have succeeded: they who are during their prayer humbly intent.} [Al-Mu'minun 23:1-2].

A phone should be switched off or silenced before salah. If it rings, its sound may be silenced with a slight movement so that it does not disturb the worshippers, but the call must not be answered during salah.

Eighth: Laughing Audibly

Laughter that produces a sound invalidates salah. Smiling without sound does not invalidate it, but it is contrary to complete khushu.

An unintended incidental sound caused by crying or coughing is not treated as laughter. The ruling on a particular event depends on its true nature, and salah is not invalidated by doubt.

Ninth: Deliberately Adding a Physical Pillar

If a person knowingly and deliberately adds a ruku, sujood, or rakah to the salah, the salah becomes invalid because its prescribed form has been changed.

If this is added forgetfully, the salah does not become invalid merely because of the forgetfulness. The person returns to what is correct and performs sujood al-sahw as established in the Sunnah.

Tenth: Deliberately Ending Salah Before It Is Complete

If a person deliberately says the salam before completing the salah, or deliberately stops it without an excuse, the salah becomes invalid. If someone says the salam forgetfully, thinking the salah is complete, and then remembers shortly afterward, the remaining portion is completed and sujood al-sahw is performed, as established in the account of Dhu al-Yadayn, may Allah be pleased with him.

It is permissible to stop salah because of necessity, such as saving a person from danger or preventing harm that cannot be prevented while continuing the salah. The salah is then repeated from the beginning.

Eleventh: Terminating the Intention for Salah

Intention is a condition for the validity of salah. If a person firmly resolves during salah to stop it and leave, the salah becomes invalid because its intention has been terminated.

Passing hesitation, thoughts, and waswasah that enter the heart involuntarily should be ignored and do not cause the salah to be declared invalid.

Twelfth: Losing a Condition During Salah and Failing to Correct It

If a person deliberately turns the entire body away from the qiblah without an excuse, the salah becomes invalid. A slight turn of the face without turning the chest does not by itself invalidate salah, though it is disliked when there is no need.

Likewise, if the awrah becomes substantially exposed, the worshipper knows this, and continues despite being able to cover it, the salah becomes invalid. Incidental exposure that the person promptly covers does not generally invalidate salah.

Thirteenth: Loss of Reason or Awareness

If a worshipper loses awareness because of fainting, anesthesia, or deep sleep in which he or she is unaware of the self, the salah is interrupted. It must be restarted after awareness returns and purification is performed if required.

Mild drowsiness in which awareness remains does not carry the ruling of losing reason and should not be made a cause of waswasah.

Fourteenth: A Mature Woman, a Donkey, or a Black Dog Passing Between the Worshipper and the Sutrah

This is an issue concerning which there is a well-known scholarly disagreement. The stronger view, based on the hadith, is that the passage of a mature woman, a donkey, or a black dog between the imam or a person praying alone and the sutrah cuts off the salah. If there is no sutrah, the area in which passage is prohibited and cuts off the salah is the area close to the place of prayer, not everything that happens far away in front of the worshipper.

Abu Dharr, may Allah be pleased with him, reported that the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said: "When any one of you stands to pray, he is screened if there is in front of him something like the back of a saddle. If there is nothing in front of him like the back of a saddle, his salah is cut off by a donkey, a woman, and a black dog." Abdullah ibn al-Samit said: I asked, "O Abu Dharr, what is the distinction between a black dog and a red or yellow dog?" He replied: "My nephew, I asked the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, just as you have asked me, and he said, 'The black dog is a devil.'"

Narrated by Muslim.

This does not include a man or child passing, anything passing behind the sutrah, or a woman sitting or lying in front of the worshipper without passing. Someone praying behind an imam is not harmed by passage in front of him or her because the imam's sutrah serves as the sutrah for those behind him. This ruling therefore concerns the imam and a person praying alone. Passage that cannot be prevented in Al-Masjid al-Haram is excused, as is severe crowding in which the worshipper is unable to prevent someone from passing.

Fifteenth: Deliberately Preceding the Imam and Failing to Return to Following Him

A person praying behind an imam must follow him and must not bow, prostrate, or rise before him. Preceding the imam is prohibited. If the follower deliberately precedes the imam into a pillar and persists in differing from him without returning to follow him, the salah becomes invalid according to the stronger view.

The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said: "The imam has only been appointed to be followed, so do not differ from him. When he says the takbir, say the takbir; when he bows, bow; when he says, 'Allah hears the one who praises Him,' say, 'Our Lord, to You belongs all praise'; when he prostrates, prostrate; and when he prays sitting, then all of you pray sitting."

Agreed upon.

If someone precedes the imam forgetfully or because of ignorance, the person returns to the position of following and then follows him, and the salah is not invalidated. Moving at the same time as the imam is not the same as preceding him, but it is contrary to the prescribed manner of following. The Sunnah is for the follower not to begin moving until the imam begins the movement.

Matters That Do Not Generally Invalidate Salah

The following matters do not by themselves invalidate salah:

1. A wandering mind and waswasah, although they diminish khushu and reward.
2. Doubting that wudu has been nullified without certainty.
3. Speech arising from forgetfulness or ignorance of the ruling, according to the stronger view.
4. Smiling without sound.
5. Slight movement or movement that is needed.
6. Slightly turning the face without turning the body away from the qiblah.
7. Crying out of fear of Allah or because one is moved by the Quran.
8. Carrying a child, removing something harmful, or silencing a phone with slight movement.
9. Coughing, sneezing, or clearing the throat when needed.
10. Mild drowsiness that does not remove awareness.
11. Slight incidental exposure that the worshipper promptly covers.
12. A man or child passing in front of the worshipper, although deliberately passing between a worshipper and the sutrah is prohibited for the passer.
13. Preceding the imam by mistake or through ignorance when the follower returns to following him.

What Should Someone Do If a Nullifier Occurs?

If a worshipper becomes certain that a nullifier has occurred with which the salah cannot remain valid, the person stops the salah if still praying and repeats it after removing the cause. If what occurred forgetfully is something corrected by sujood al-sahw, the salah should not be stopped; rather, the prescribed ruling for that situation is followed.

Salah is not invalidated by mere doubt. Certainty is not removed by doubt, and the basic rule is that salah and purification remain valid until the contrary is known with certainty.

Common Mistakes in This Subject

• Declaring salah invalid because of every slight movement.
• Repeating salah because of waswasah and doubts.
• Speaking deliberately on the claim that the speech is brief or serves the salah.
• Confusing a pillar, an obligatory act, and a Sunnah.
• Abandoning tranquility and moving so quickly that the limbs do not settle.
• Continuing salah after becoming certain that wudu has been nullified.
• Stopping salah because of a mistake that is corrected by sujood al-sahw.
• Believing that any person passing far in front of the worshipper invalidates salah.
• Preceding the imam in ruku, sujood, or rising from them.