Question Summary:
Can I read tashahhud looking at a paper?

Question Detail:

If I do not know how to perform salah perfectly (I am still in the process of learning tashahhud but don’t know it by heart yet), is it permissible to write it down on a piece of paper in front of me while praying?

Answer :

In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
As-salāmu ‘alaykum wa-rahmatullāhi wa-barakātuh.

It is impermissible for one to use a paper, book or anything of the sort to read out of during salāh. This ruling applies whether a person is learned or not, a hāfiz or not, an imām or muqtadi. The same ruling applies to all.[1]
If a person does not know Arabic, or he doesn’t know what to pray in salāh, he should recite Subhānallah, Alhamdulillah or Allahu- akbar at least three times in every posture until he learns enough to suffice him in salāh.[2]

And Allah Ta’āla Knows Best
Mawlana Saanwal ibn Muhammad,
UK
Student Darul Iftaa
Checked and Approved by,
Mufti Husain Kadodia