then prays (1), so that by performing both acts he can be certain that he has performed a valid ablution and offered a valid prayer.

According to the preponderant view, however, this issue does not arise in the first place, because water is never merely pure; rather, it is either purifying or impure.

If pure garments are confused with impure ones ...

His statement, “If pure garments are confused with impure ones ...”: this issue is relevant to the chapter on clothing and to the chapter on covering the private parts among the conditions of prayer. It is mentioned here only incidentally, since garments have no connection with water.

An example of this issue is a man who has two garments: one is known with certainty to be impure, while the other is pure. He wishes to wear them, but becomes uncertain as to which is pure and which is impure. He must then pray as many prayers as there are impure garments, plus one additional prayer, because each garment in which he prays may be the impure one, in which case the prayer offered in it would not be valid. One of the conditions of prayer is that one pray in a pure garment, and he cannot be certain that he has prayed in a pure garment except by doing this.

Thus, if he has thirty impure garments and one pure garment, he must offer thirty-one prayers at each prayer time. This is merely hypothetical; otherwise, he could wash a garment or buy a new one. This is the view followed by the author.

The correct view is that he should exercise judgment: if it is more likely in his estimation that one of the garments is pure, he prays in it. Allah does not burden a soul beyond that it can bear, and Allah has not required a person to offer the same prayer twice.