And in the two Sahīh collections, Ibrāhīm narrates from ‘Alqamah, from ‘Abd Allāh, who said:

“We prayed with the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and he prayed either more or fewer units. Ibrāhīm said: ‘By Allah, that uncertainty comes only from me.’ We said: ‘O Messenger of Allah, has something changed concerning the prayer?’ He replied: ‘No.’ We then told him what he had done, and he said: ‘If someone prays more or fewer units, let him perform two prostrations.’” The narrator said: “He then performed two prostrations.”

Some proponents of this view have interpreted exercising judgment to mean disregarding what is doubtful and proceeding on the basis of what is certain. This interpretation is weak for several reasons.

One is that the Sunan of Abū Dāwūd, the Musnad, and other collections contain the wording:

“If, during your prayer, you are unsure whether you have prayed three, four, or more than four units, recite the tashahhud and then prostrate from a sitting position.”

Another is that the various wordings explicitly instruct the worshipper to exercise his judgment to determine what he believes to be correct, whether that is the greater or the smaller number. Had he been instructed simply to disregard what is doubtful in every case, there would be no exercise of judgment to determine what is correct.

Another is that Ibn Mas‘ūd, who narrated the hadith, explained it in this way. Successive generations of the scholars of Kufa, such as Ibrāhīm and his followers, learned this from him. Abū Hanīfah and his companions, in turn, learned it from Ibrāhīm.

Another is that here he instructed that the two prostrations be performed after the concluding salutation, whereas in the hadith of Abū