What breaks salah, and sajdah sahw
What breaks the prayer
- Speaking, however little, whether by mistake or on purpose.
- Eating or drinking anything.
- Laughing aloud; for an adult (Hanafi school) this also breaks wudu.
- Turning the chest away from the qiblah without a reason.
- “Excessive movement” — doing something that makes an onlooker think you are not praying.
- Losing wudu.
- Missing a pillar, or the ‘awrah staying uncovered for the length of a pillar.
- A mistake in reciting the Quran that entirely changes the meaning.
- Moaning from pain or worry (weeping from the fear of Allah does not break it).
Disliked (makruh) acts
Fiddling with clothes or the body, looking around, cracking the fingers, hands on the hips, yawning without covering the mouth, praying while needing the toilet urgently or with food served in front of you. These do not break the prayer but lessen its reward.
Sajdah sahw — the prostration of forgetfulness
It becomes wajib when an obligation (wajib) is missed by mistake, or a fard or wajib is put in the wrong order or delayed — for example standing up by mistake instead of the first sitting, or forgetting to add a surah after Al-Fatihah.
- In the final sitting recite only the tashahhud.
- Give one salam to the right.
- Say “Allahu akbar” and make two prostrations (with their tasbih).
- Sit again, recite the tashahhud, salawat and du‘a, and give salam to both sides.
If unsure how many rak‘ahs you have prayed, go by what you think most likely; if you cannot tell, take the smaller number, complete the prayer and make sajdah sahw. (Muslim 571)