Question:

Zaid led the Esha prayer. In the first qaa’idah (sitting), after lifting his head from sajdah and before the at-tahiyyaat, he recited two tasbeehs of sajdah or ruku instead of reciting at-tahiyyaat. He then realized that he was in qaa’idah, so he immediately started reciting the at-tahiyaat. Now he became confused in salah itself, that should he perform a sajdah sahw or not? On one side he was thinking that if there is a delay of three tasbeehs in salah then sajdah sahw becomes wajib, but on the other hand he feels that if a person recites Allahumma salli alaa Muhammad after at-tahiyyaat then sajdah sahw becomes wajib.

In the end he came to the conclusion that sajdah sahw was not necessary. So he did not perform the sajdah sahw and he completed his salah.

However, afterwards some people said that the sajdah sahw was wajib, therefore the salah must be repeated. Please inform us as to whether the salah was valid or not.

Answer: حامدا ومصليا ومسلما

In the above scenario the Imam has only recited two tasbeehs of sajdah or ruku. Therefore sajda sahw was not wajib. And since sajdah sahw was not wajib, repeating the salah was also not wajib. So there is no need to worry.

And Allah Ta’aalaa knows best.
Hazrat Mufti Ahmad Khanpuri Saheb (May Allah preserve him)
Mahmoodul Fataawaa 1/456-457