Ruling on the prayer of one who forgets the opening takbeer (takbeerat al-ihraam)
If a person forgets to say takbeerat al-ihraam should he continue with his prayer to the end and then repeat it, or stop and start again?.
Praise be to Allaah.
If a person forgets
takbeerat al-ihraam or is not sure whether he did it or not, he should say
takbeer straight away, and then do whatever he had caught up with after the
takbeer. If he says takbeer after having missed the first rak’ah with the
imam, he should regard himself as having missed the first rak’ah and make it
up after the imam says the tasleem. If he repeats the takbeer in the third
rak’ah he should regard himself as having missed two rak'ahs and should do
two rak’ahs after the imam says the salaam. This applies for one who is not
affected by waswaas. But if he is suffering from waswaas, he should regard
himself as having said the takbeer at the beginning of the prayer and he
should not make up anything, in order to annoy the Shaytaan and fight him
and his whispers. Praise be to Allaah.