the laws of the Sharia. If the followers split into two groups, one agreeing with him and the others disagreeing, their statement is nullified due to their contradiction, like two pieces of evidence when they contradict one another. Whenever he does not return [to their guidance] and the follower is certain of the Imam's error, he should not follow him, [because he is only to follow him] (37) in the actions of the prayer, and this is not among them. It is appropriate that he waits for him here, because the prayer of the Imam is valid and has not been corrupted by its addition (38), so he waits for him just as the Imam waits for the followers in the prayer of fear.

216 - Issue: He said: "Whatever exceeds this of forgetfulness, its prostration is before the taslim, just like the individual who is in doubt regarding his prayer and does not know how much he has prayed, so he relies on certainty, or he stood in a place of sitting, or sat in a place of standing, or recited aloud in a place of silence, or recited silently in a place of loud recitation, or prayed five [rak'ahs], or whatever exceeds that (1) of forgetfulness, all of this requires prostration before the taslim."

And the sum of that is that all prostrations according to Ahmad are before the taslim, except in the two instances where the explicit text (nass) was reported for prostrating after the taslim, which are: when he performs the taslim after a deficiency in his prayer, or when the Imam exercises discretionary effort (taharra) and relies on his predominant thought; as for other than these two, he prostrates for them before the taslim. He stated this in the narration of al-Athram. He said: "I say that every instance of forgetfulness for which it was narrated from the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) that he prostrated (2) after the taslim, and all other forgetfulness (3), he prostrates for it before the taslim, this is more correct in meaning; this is because it is part of the prayer, so he performs it before he performs the taslim." Then he said: "The Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) prostrated in three instances after the taslim, and in others before the taslim." I said: "Explain the three instances (4)."