But when someone doubts and cannot determine which possibility is more likely, he will have prayed either four or five rak‘ahs. If he has prayed five, the two prostrations make his prayer even-numbered, as though he had prayed six rather than five. This can only be achieved before the salām, whereas Mālik says that in this case he should prostrate after the salām. Thus, the position we have defended gives effect to all the hadiths without setting any aside, while applying sound analogy to cases not addressed by an explicit text and assimilating them to comparable cases that are.

This is further clarified by the fact that when an inadvertent error involves the salām, the prostrations are performed after the salām. Accordingly, one may argue as follows:

If someone inadvertently adds something other than the salām that belongs to the acts of prayer—such as a rak‘ah, a bowing, or a prostration—this is an addition that would invalidate his prayer if made deliberately, just as with the salām. It is therefore more appropriate to treat it by analogy with the salām than with omitting the first tashahhud or doubting and proceeding on the basis of certainty.

As for the argument that the prostrations belong to the prayer and should therefore be performed before the salām, the response is: if this were correct, all such prostrations would have to precede the salām. Since it is established that some follow the salām, we know that these prostrations are not inherently part of the prayer that must be performed before the salām.

This is countered by the argument that the prostrations are not among the obligations entailed by entering the inviolable state of prayer, since entering that state obligates only a prayer free of defects. These are claims unsupported by evidence. Rather, one should say: entering the inviolable state of prayer makes obligatory