when he said, “I have not forgotten, nor has the prayer been shortened,” he was answered: “Indeed—you did forget.”
– naʿam: a particle of reply that follows the previous statement in either its affirmation or its negation; thus, when he asked, “Is Dhū’l-Yadayn telling the truth?” they confirmed his veracity by responding, “Yes.”
– ḥattā yaqkinnah—with a doubled qāf—means: until he became absolutely certain of his lapse, through verification and the testimony of trustworthy people.
Lessons drawn from the ḥadīth
1 – It is possible for prophets to experience inadvertence in their legislative actions, for they are human and subject to what befalls other humans; yet they are never left upon such lapses. By unanimous agreement, however, forgetfulness cannot occur in their verbal proclamation of revelation.
2 – The divine wisdom behind the Prophet’s ﷺ lapse includes clarifying the law, lightening the burden on the community, and providing guidance for the kinds of forgetfulness that may overtake them.
3 – Exiting the prayer before completing it—while assuming it has been completed—does not invalidate it; one may resume and complete it as long as the interval is deemed brief by common custom. If the gap is considered long, or he breaks his state of purity, or leaves the mosque, the scholars say he must repeat the prayer.
4 – Speaking during the very body of the prayer, when done out of forgetfulness or ignorance, does not nullify it, according to the sounder of the two scholarly views.
5 – Considerable movement made inadvertently does not nullify the prayer, even if the movement is unrelated to its prescribed actions.
6 – The two prostrations of forgetfulness are obligatory for anyone who lapses and ends the prayer with a deficiency, in order to rectify the flaw in the prayer and to humiliate Satan.
7 – The prostration of forgetfulness is performed after the salām when one has concluded the prayer prematurely—as in this ḥadīth—and before the salām in all other situations. This detailed approach reconciles the evidences and is the position of the Ḥanbalī school.
As for the Ḥanafīs, they consider it to be after the salām in every case.