the very point over which the jurists differ. Mālik and al-Shāfiʿī—and this is also the dominant view among the adherents of Aḥmad—as well as al-Thawrī, al-Awzāʿī, Isḥāq, Rabīʿah, and it is narrated from Ibn ʿUmar and Ibn ʿAbbās, all hold that anyone who has not attained absolute certainty remains in a state of doubt, even if one of the two possibilities seems more probable to him. They therefore treat the person whose opinion leans to one side as still a doubter, instructing him to discard what he doubts and build on what he is certain of. Their maxim is that the default assumption is the non-occurrence of the thing doubted; hence they give unrestricted priority to maintaining the original state, even when indications and proofs point the other way, and they do not allow any room for personal investigation (taharrī).

In one of the two reports from him, Imām Aḥmad rules that a person praying alone should build on what is certain, citing the ḥadīth of Abū Saʿīd; whereas the imam who is leading others should build on what he considers more probable. This was the choice of al-Khirqī and of al-Muwaffaq among the Ḥanbalīs. Al-Muwaffaq explains: “We have singled out the imam because he has people behind him to alert him, unlike the solitary worshipper.”

A third view is that adopted by Abū Ḥanīfah and his companions, espoused by many early and later scholars, and related from ʿAlī and Ibn Masʿūd (may Allah be pleased with them). This view affirms investigation and ijtihād: both the imam and the individual worshipper build on what they deem more likely. It rests on the soundest ḥadīth in this chapter—the ḥadīth of Ibn Masʿūd—in which the Prophet ﷺ said:
“I am only a human being; I forget just as you forget. When I forget, remind me. If any one of you is uncertain about his prayer, let him search for what is correct, complete his prayer on that basis, then perform two prostrations.”
The Prophet ﷺ thus regarded what is done after such investigation as a full completion of the prayer, not an act performed while still in doubt. Positive proofs of performance, in all their varieties, outweigh the mere presumption of non-performance; this is the sound course the worshipper has been enjoined to follow. Evidence that he has prayed four rakʿahs, taken collectively, is stronger than the bare presumption that he has not, and the same reasoning applies to the counted rounds of ṭawāf, the saʿy, the casting of the pebbles, and similar acts.

Rulings derived from the ḥadīth

1. Forgetfulness can befall the prophets, peace be upon them, in their practical acts of conveying revelation, but they are never left uncorrected. By unanimous agreement, forgetfulness is impossible in their verbal transmission of revelation.
2. The wisdoms and secrets underlying such moments of forgetfulness include clarifying the legal rulings, easing the burden on the community by showing that their inadvertent mistakes are forgiven, and demonstrating that the prophets are human beings who may experience what others experience in their actions—though not in their verbal conveyance of revelation.