diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/conf/Configuration.java b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/conf/Configuration.java
index fee84c29122..df28b96e045 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/conf/Configuration.java
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/conf/Configuration.java
@@ -2678,9 +2678,6 @@ public class Configuration implements Iterable<Map.Entry<String,String>>,
             token.setLength(0);
             break;
           case "include":
-            if (!"xi".equals(reader.getPrefix())) {
-              break;
-            }
             // Determine href for xi:include
             String confInclude = null;
             attrCount = reader.getAttributeCount();
@@ -2717,9 +2714,6 @@ public class Configuration implements Iterable<Map.Entry<String,String>>,
             }
             break;
           case "fallback":
-            if (!"xi".equals(reader.getPrefix())) {
-              break;
-            }
             fallbackEntered = true;
             break;
           case "configuration":
@@ -2755,9 +2749,6 @@ public class Configuration implements Iterable<Map.Entry<String,String>>,
             confSource.add(StringInterner.weakIntern(token.toString()));
             break;
           case "include":
-            if (!"xi".equals(reader.getPrefix())) {
-              break;
-            }
             if (fallbackAllowed && !fallbackEntered) {
               throw new IOException("Fetch fail on include with no "
                   + "fallback while loading '" + name + "'");