Liaison office of Grand Ayatullah Sayyid Ali Al Sistani (L.M.H.L) in London, Europe, North and South America.
There are eleven obligatory acts for prayers:
Niyyat (intention)
Qiyam (standing erect)
Takbiratul Ehram (saying Allahu Akbar while commencing the prayers)
Ruku' (bowing)
Sajdatayn (two prostration)
Qira'at (recitation of Surah al-Hamd and other surah)
Zikr (prescribed recitation in Ruku' and Sajdah)
Tashahhud (bearing witness after completing the Sajdah of the second and
the last Rak'at)
Salaam (Salutation)
Tartib (sequence)
Muwalat (to perform the different acts of prayers in regular succession).
951. Some of the obligatory acts of prayers are elemental (Rukn).
Hence, a person who does not offer them, whether intentionally or by mistake,
his prayers become void. Some other obligatory acts of prayers are not
elemental. Therefore, if they are omitted by mistake, the prayers does not
become void.
The elementals of Namaz are five:
Intention (Niyyat)
Takbiratul Ehram
Standing before the Ruku'
Ruku'
Two Sajdah in every Rak'at.
Any addition made to these elemental (Rukni) acts, intentionally, will render
the prayers void. If the addition is done by mistake, the prayers does not
become void except when a Ruku' is added, or more than two Sajdah are offered in
one Rak'at.