and Ibn Abbās permitted dry ablution for it if one feared missing it. This is also the view of Abū Hanīfah and one of the two opinions reported from Ahmad. Like the two prostrations for forgetfulness, it requires facing the Kaaba and forming rows, as in prayer. The follower follows the imam, neither saying the takbīr nor giving the salām before him, just as in prayer.

The prostration of recitation is different: according to many scholars, the listener may prostrate even if the reciter does not. The reported hadith,

“You are our imam; had you prostrated, we would have prostrated,”

is one of the reports Atā attributes directly to the Prophet without a connected chain, and is among the weakest such reports, as Ahmad and others stated. Those who hold that the listener should prostrate only when the reciter does so do not consider him to be following the reciter in every respect. The listeners are not required to prostrate together in a row, as they do behind the imam for forgetfulness. Nor must the leader be his imam as in prayer, and the follower may rise before his imam. It is therefore clear that he is not following him in a prayer, even if he may be said to follow him outside prayer, just as someone saying “Āmīn” follows the person making supplication, or a listener follows a reciter.

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As for reciting the tashahhud in the two prostrations for forgetfulness, those who affirm it rely on the report narrated from Imrān ibn Husayn:

“The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, led them in prayer