"Let him exercise personal effort (taharri) to find what is closest to the truth." (13) And in another phrasing: "Let him exercise personal effort for what he perceives to be the truth." Muslim recorded all of these. (14) And in a phrasing recorded by Abu Dawud (15), he said: "If you are in prayer and you doubt whether you have prayed three or four [rak'ahs], and your predominant thought is that it is four, then perform the tashahhud, then perform two prostrations while you are sitting." [We have interpreted this as applying to the Imam, and not to] (16) the one praying alone (munfarid), because the Imam has those who will alert and remind him if he errs from the truth, so he acts (17) upon what is most apparent to him. If he is correct, the followers (ma'mumun) confirm it for him, thus confirming his own sense of correctness; and if he is mistaken, they glorify Allah (tasbih) for him, so he returns to them, and thus (18) the truth is achieved for him in both cases. The one praying alone is not like this, as he has no one to remind him; therefore, he must build upon certainty so that he may complete his prayer and not be deluded by it. This is the meaning of his saying (may Allah bless him and grant him peace): "There is no 'ghirar' (uncertainty or delusion) in prayer (19)." Based on this, the hadith of Abu Sa'id and 'Abd al-Rahman ibn 'Awf is interpreted as applying to the one praying alone, and the hadith of Ibn Mas'ud as applying to the Imam, as a way of combining the reports and reconciling between them. If both matters are equal in the mind of the Imam, he also builds upon certainty. According to the second narration, the hadith of Abu Sa'id and 'Abd al-Rahman is interpreted as applying to one who has no predominant thought (zann), and the hadith of Ibn Mas'ud as applying to one who has a predominant thought. As for the statement of the scholars of opinion (ashab al-ra'y), it contradicts the Sunnah established from the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), and Abu Hurayrah narrated that
(13) In the original: "Let him complete it by what is closest to the truth." (14) See the previous chapter in Sahih Muslim 1/400, 401. (15) In: Chapter: He Who Said One Should Complete According to His Predominant Thought, from the Book of Prayer. Sunan Abi Dawud 1/236. It was also recorded by Imam Ahmad, in: al-Musnad 1/429. (16) Instead of this in M: "Therefore, the hadith of Abu Sa'id is interpreted as applying to one for whom both matters are equal, and who does not have a predominant thought. And the hadith of Ibn Mas'ud as applying to one who has an opinion and a thought, and he acts upon his thought, as a way of combining the two hadiths and acting upon both, which is more appropriate. Furthermore, because a predominant thought is a form of evidence in Islamic law, it is mandatory to follow it, just as if the direction of the Qibla were unclear to him. Al-Khiraqi chose the distinction between the Imam and the person praying alone, making the Imam build upon his predominant thought, and the person praying alone build upon certainty. This is the apparent position of the school (madhhab), which al-Athram and others transmitted from Ahmad. The famous position from Ahmad is building upon certainty in the case of..." (17) In M: "Let him act." (18) In M: "Then he makes." (19) In M: "Prayer."
