An example of this is when, after having said the salām, a person doubts whether he prayed three or four rakʿahs. We say: Do not pay attention to this doubt. He should neither perform the prostration of forgetfulness nor return to his prayer, because the prayer was completed in a legally valid manner, and nothing has occurred to invalidate that legal validity. When the worshipper says the salām, he has no uncertainty that the prayer is complete and that his liability has been discharged. Therefore, a doubt arising after his liability has been discharged is of no consequence.

Another example is if he doubts the number of circuits of tawaf after he has completed it: did he perform seven circuits or six? This is of no consequence, and he should not pay attention to it, because he completed the tawaf in a legally valid manner and thereby discharged his liability. A doubt arising after one’s liability has been discharged is not taken into account.

Likewise, if he doubts the number of pebbles thrown at the Jamarat after he has finished and departed, he should not pay attention to it, because once the act of worship has been completed, his liability has been discharged. A doubt arising after one’s liability has been discharged is not taken into account.

The second principle: if the doubt is merely a passing notion—that is, it occurs to the mind without becoming settled, as is found among those afflicted with obsessive misgivings—it is likewise of no consequence and should not be heeded. If a person were to yield to such notions, he would suffer greatly.

The third principle: if doubts become frequent for a person, to the point that he does not perform any act without doubting it—if he performs ablution, he doubts; if he prays, he doubts; and if he fasts, he doubts—then this too is of no consequence, because it is an illness and an affliction. The discussion concerns the sound person who is free of such illness. As for this excessively doubtful person, his mind is considered unsettled, so his doubts are of no consequence.

This leaves the case of doubt that is free of these three matters; what