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Such is the ruling on additions to prayer made out of forgetfulness. As for deliberate additions, if they consist of actions characteristic of prayer or words not characteristic of prayer, they invalidate it by agreement, whether the addition is slight or substantial. Actions not characteristic of prayer invalidate it when substantial, but not when slight. As for words characteristic of prayer, one view is that they invalidate the prayer; another is that the person should seek Allahโs forgiveness but need not perform the prostrations of forgetfulness, since he did not act forgetfully.
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Omissions through forgetfulness likewise concern either actions or words.
If they concern actions, the omitted act must be either an obligatory act, a Sunnah act, or an act of additional merit. If it is an obligatory act, such as bowing, prostrating, standing, or the final sitting, the prostrations of forgetfulness do not suffice unless he also performs what he omitted. If making up the omitted act entails an addition to his prayer, he performs the prostrations after the closing salutation. If making it up entails both an addition and an omission, he performs the prostrations before the closing salutation, subject to Mฤlikโs differing statements on this matter. An exception is when he is praying behind an imam and the addition, or the combined omission and addition, occurs within the imamโs prayer. In that case, he need not perform the prostrations, because the imam bears responsibility on behalf of those praying behind him for every lapse that can be remedied by the prostrations of forgetfulness, whether it involves an addition, an omission, or both. The governing principle is that the imam bears responsibility on their behalf for all the Sunnah acts of prayer, but not its obligatory acts. Thus, he does not bear responsibility on their behalf for standing, bowing, prostrating, the final sitting, the closing salutation, the intention, ritual purity, the purity of their clothing and place of prayer, facing the qiblah, or the opening takbฤซr. There is disagreement on this, as we have discussed previously.
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For everything for which the imam bears responsibility on behalf of those praying behind him, his omission through forgetfulness counts as an omission on their part, even if they perform it. For everything for which he does not bear responsibility on their behalf, his omission through forgetfulness does not count as an omission on their part if they perform it, except in the case of the intention