you heard from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ anything he enjoined upon a Muslim who becomes inattentive in his prayer—what should he do?”

I replied, “No, by Allah. And have you, O Commander of the Believers, not heard anything from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ about that?”

He said, “No, by Allah.”

While we were discussing the matter, ʿAbd al-Raḥman ibn ʿAwf came along and asked, “What are the two of you talking about?”

ʿUmar said, “I put a question to him,” and he explained the issue to him.

ʿAbd al-Raḥman said to him, “But I have heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ give instructions on that.”

ʿUmar responded, “You are a trustworthy witness in our estimation; so what did you hear?”

He said, “I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say: ‘If any one of you becomes uncertain in his prayer so that he does not know whether he has added or omitted, then if he doubts between one and two, let him count it as one; if he doubts between two and three, let him count it as two; and if he doubts between three and four, let him count it as three, so that the presumption is toward having added. Then he should perform two prostrations while seated before giving salām, and then give salām (1).’

This is a ḥasan hadith.

Al-Tirmidhī declared it authentic and transmitted it through Bundār (2), from Muḥammad ibn Khālid ibn ʿAthmah, from Ibrāhīm ibn Saʿd, whereas our chain is one tier higher.

It was also narrated by the ḥāfiẓ Ibn ʿAsākir at the beginning of the biography of Ibn ʿAwf, and in his wording it states: ‘So relate it to us, for you are, in our view, an approved and trustworthy witness.’