273 – Thawbān reported that the Prophet ﷺ said: “For every lapse there are two prostrations, performed after he pronounces the salām.” Narrated by Abū Dāwūd and Ibn Mājah with a weak chain of transmission. (1)

Hadith grading:
The hadith is ḥasan, though some scholars have judged it weak because its isnād contains Ismāʿīl ibn ʿAyyāsh, about whom there is criticism. Al-Bayhaqī said, “Ismāʿīl ibn ʿAyyāsh is not strong.” Al-ʿIrāqī called the report “irregular.” Al-Ḥāfiẓ remarked, “There is disagreement in its chain.” Al-Bukhārī stated, “When he narrates from the people of his own land—the Syrians—his report is sound.” Hence weakening the hadith on his account is debatable, for in this chain he narrates from a Syrian, ʿAbd Allāh al-Kulāʿī. Nevertheless, the isnād also includes Zuhayr ibn Sālim al-ʿAnsī, whose narrations are regarded as soft, which is why al-Mundhirī passed over the hadith in silence, as though he did not consider it weak. Allah knows best.

Points derived from the hadith:
1 – The report lends itself to two possible meanings:
a. Every occurrence of forgetfulness in the prayer requires two prostrations of forgetfulness, and the number of prostrations multiplies with the number of lapses. This is the clearer of the two readings, yet it contradicts the view of the majority, who hold that a single set of two prostrations suffices even when the lapses are numerous.
b. The intended meaning is the generality of all categories of forgetfulness, whether explicitly mentioned in other reports or not. The word sahw (lapse) here is a generic term: any lapse that occurs in the prayer—by adding an act of its kind, omitting something obligatory, or falling into overall doubt—whether or not a specific hadith addresses it, then it