witr; rather, it is performed two rakʿahs at a time. Consequently, no weight is given to the view—advanced by some of our colleagues and others—that Maghrib should be repeated and then “paired” by adding a single rakʿah, nor to the opinion that it should be repeated yet again so that the total becomes six.

Within our school there are two positions on this point:

1. One of the two prayers is the obligatory prayer and the other is voluntary, without designating which is which.
2. The second prayer is voluntary. Both views are transmitted from Mālik.

They likewise disagreed about a person who, after praying alone, repeated the prayer behind an imam and then remembered that his first prayer had been performed without wudūʾ. Two opinions are reported:
• The second prayer suffices for his obligation.
• It does not suffice, and he must repeat the prayer.

In my judgment, this difference applies when, at the time he prayed with the congregation, he believed he had already fulfilled his obligation, only to discover later that the first prayer had been without wudūʾ. If, however, he joined the congregation intending to perform his obligatory prayer and to gain the sunnah merit of praying in congregation, the invalidity of the first prayer carries no consequence. Should the second, congregational prayer turn out to have been without wudūʾ while the first, solitary one was valid, the first prayer suffices him. This is the proper analogy, as we have explained in al-Istidhkār and al-Tamhīd.

Our companions are unanimously agreed that one who has prayed alone may not act as imam for others in that same prayer. This, Allah willing, makes it clear that, in their view, the repeated prayer is voluntary.

If someone has prayed alone and then reaches a congregation while they are sitting in the final tashahhud of that prayer, he should not join them until he knows that what he is witnessing is not the very end of their prayer. Instead, with that single opening takbīr he should offer two rakʿahs as a voluntary prayer for himself. There is no distinction here between the resident imam who has prayed alone and anyone else who is not an imam, for the permission to repeat the prayer was legislated only to compensate the solitary worshipper for the merit of congregation, and its general wording extends to every