This certainty nullifies any act of worship
15-5-2011 | IslamWeb
Question:
Assalmu alaikum Wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu Sir please explain a general principle : If someone has offered any kind of worship with full confidence but after the expiry of time he becomes aware that he had done a mistake which nullify his worship. Then ,whether his worship is acceptable or not. I make my point clear by following example : 1)If someone offered salah with full confidence that he has not broke the ablution but after salat time expires he becomes sure that he was not in ablution. Is it acceptable ? 2) Now a days plain of Arafah is well demarcated but let us consider it a hypothetical situation, If someone made his waqoof of Arafah with full discretion but later on (after expiry of day) he becomes sure that his standing place was out of border of arafat. Is it acceptable? 3)Similarly, 7 round of circuit was completed with full confidence but after time expire he becomes sure that he has done only 6 round. Is it acceptable? In all cases time to redo has expired. Please explain as these may occur with anyone anytime as we are very ordinary man .
Answer:
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad 
is His slave and Messenger.
Whoever prays and then becomes certain after the expiry of the time of the prayer that he was not in a state of purity, then he is obligated to repeat the prayer as his prayer is not valid because the Prophet said: “Allaah does not accept the prayer of any one of you if his ablution is invalidated until he performs ablution again.” [Al-Bukhari]
Similarly, if someone thought that he was standing within the boundaries of the Mount of ‘Arafah and then it becomes clear to him after the expiry of the time of standing at it (i.e. after the beginning of Fajr of the 10th of Thul-Hijjah) that he was standing outside the boundaries of the Mount of ‘Arafah, then his Hajj is void as he missed one of the pillars of Hajj which is the standing at the Mount of ‘Arafah. Therefore, he should come out of the rituals of Hajj by performing ‘Umrah and offer a sacrifice and then he should make up the Hajj the next year.
Likewise, if someone believed that he had performed seven rounds of Tawaaf and then he becomes certain that he had performed less than seven rounds, he is obligated to go back and perform Tawaaf seven rounds if there was a long interval between the two Tawaafs, and if the time is short according to the custom, then he may complete the remaining rounds only.
Hence, it becomes clear that whoever leaves one of the pillars of an act of worship or one of its conditions while being able to perform it, his act of worship is not valid even if he believed that he had done it as long as he becomes certain afterwards that he did not perform it.
Allaah Knows best.