Lesson 2 of 6 · Certainty is not removed by doubt

A check

You cannot remember whether you have prayed three rak'ahs or four, and you have no way of settling it. On the maxim in this lesson, what carries?

Qur’an and Sunnah

What carries when you cannot settle whether it was three or four. Here is the maxim applied to that exact case. Set the doubt aside, build on what you are sure of, and make two prostrations.

Abu Sa'id al-Khudri reported:The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: When any one of you is in doubt about his prayer and he does Dot know how much he has prayed, three or four (rak'ahs). he should cast aside his doubt and base his prayer on what he is sure of. then perform two prostrations before giving salutations. If he has prayed five rak'ahs, they will make his prayer an even number for him, and if he has prayed exactly four, they will be humiliation for the devil

Sahih Muslim 571graded sound, sahihaynthe Arabic and its grading

The doubt, so start the prayer againWhat you last knew for certain, and you build on thatWhichever answer makes the anxiety quieterAsk somebody and do whatever they say

Not quite

Certainty is not removed by doubt. There are specific rules for genuine uncertainty inside the prayer, which a scholar can teach you once and which are not the same thing as the endless doubt this course is about. What is never the answer is picking whichever option quiets the anxiety fastest, because that is the move that trains it.