Chapter on Lapses in Prayer

1. If a person is uncertain how many cycles (rak‘ahs) he has performed or how many individual prostrations (sajdahs) he has made, he proceeds on the basis of certainty—that is, the lesser number—and then performs the two prostrations of forgetfulness (sajdatay al-sahw) after giving the salām. Should he make those prostrations before the salām instead, his prayer remains valid; nevertheless, performing them after the salām is the view preferred by Mālik.

2. If he suspects that he has missed one obligatory element of the prayer but cannot identify which element it was, he treats the omission as though it were the opening takbīr along with the intention. He therefore utters the takbīr, consciously entering the prayer anew, completes the prayer, and then performs the prostrations of forgetfulness after the salām. If he fails to make those prostrations, nothing further is required of him.

3. If he is certain that he has already pronounced the opening takbīr, yet believes he omitted some other obligation that he cannot specify, he regards the omission as though it were the recitation of Sūrat al-Fātiḥah and therefore recites it accordingly.