I was a Shi'ite, then Allah guided me to the methodology of the people of the Sunnah. I used to pray in the manner of the Shi'ites. Do I have to repeat those prayers or not? And what is required of me now?

The questioner : A young man asked: "I was a Shi'ite, then Allah guided me to the methodology of the people of the Sunnah. I used to pray and stand in the manner of the Shi'ites. Do I have to repeat those prayers or not? And what is required of me now?"

The Shaykh : We do not find, to the best of our knowledge, in the Book of Allah or in the hadith of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) that one who was a disbeliever, or an open sinner who left off prayer, or one who performed it in a manner contrary to the rulings of the Shari'ah, is required to repeat any of those prayers. Rather, we say regarding such a person: "May Allah forgive what has passed." And this, without a doubt, is understood from the principles and rules of the Shari'ah. First, there is no text that obligates such a person to make up those prayers. Second, I find in some hadiths what can be taken as evidence for what we have just said. Among them is the hadith known to scholars of hadith and jurisprudence as the hadith of the one who performed his prayer incorrectly. In it, as is well known, a man prayed while the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) was looking at him. When he finished his prayer, he came to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and said: "Peace be upon you, O Messenger of Allah." The Prophet said: "Go back and pray, for you have not prayed." The man prayed three times, and each time he returned to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) to greet him, and the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) would only say: "And upon you be peace. Go back and pray, for you have not prayed." It became clear to the man that he was praying a prayer that was not complete or not valid. He said: "O Messenger of Allah, by Allah, I do not know how to do it other than this. Teach me." The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) taught him, as in the full text of the well-known hadith where he said: to the end of it. I understand from this hadith that the man's prayer was like this, and it was not the first time he was praying this prayer, as indicated by his saying: "By Allah, O Messenger of Allah, I do not know how to do it other than this." It is as if he is saying: "Since I became a Muslim, I have been praying this prayer." We find here that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) did not order him to repeat what he had already prayed of these deficient prayers. Rather, he said to him, teaching him anew: , and then he said to him at the end of the hadith: . This hadith orders the renewal of the validity of the prayer when the ignorant person realizes it, and he is not burdened with correcting what he missed of the prayers. This is what I have in answer to this question.