most of the scholars (2), except that al-Shafi'i deemed the prayer upon the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, to be obligatory from among them, and he grouped it with the pillars. There is another narration from Ahmad like his opinion. We have previously mentioned the proof for their obligatoriness, [and Yahya ibn Khallad has narrated] (3) from his uncle that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said (4): "The prayer of none of the people is complete until he performs wudu' and places the wudu' in its proper places (5), then pronounces the takbir, praises Allah, extols Him, and recites whatever he wishes from the Quran, then says: 'Allahu Akbar,' then bows until his joints are at rest, then says: 'Sami'a Allahu liman hamidah' until he stands upright, then says: 'Allahu Akbar,' then prostrates until his joints are at rest, then says: 'Allahu Akbar,' and lifts his head until he sits upright, then says: 'Allahu Akbar,' then prostrates until his joints are at rest, then lifts his head and pronounces the takbir. If he does that, his prayer is complete." In one narration: "The prayer of any of you is not complete until he does that." Narrated by Abu Dawud. The ruling on these obligations, if we hold them to be obligatory, is that if he omits one of them intentionally, his prayer is invalidated. If he omits one of them out of forgetfulness, the two prostrations of forgetfulness become obligatory upon him; [because when the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, stood up] (6) for a third rak'ah and omitted the first tashahhud (7), he performed two prostrations while sitting, [before he gave the salutation, then he gave the salutation. According to the hadith of Ibn Buhaynah] (8). If it were not for