Mukhtasar Muslim

Sayyiduna Abu Sa'id Khudri (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: When any one of you is uncertain in his prayer (about how many rak'ahs he has prayed) and does not know whether he has prayed three or four, then he should dispel the doubt and act upon what he is certain of. Then, before saying the salam, he should perform two prostrations. Now, if he has prayed five rak'ahs, these two prostrations will make it six rak'ahs, and if he has completed four, then by these two prostrations dust will be thrown in the face of Satan.

Sayyiduna Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him) reports that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) led us in the Zuhr or Asr prayer, and after praying two rak‘ahs, he ended the prayer with salam. Then he came to a piece of wood that was fixed in the mosque towards the qiblah and stood by it, leaning against it in anger. At that time, Sayyiduna Abu Bakr as-Siddiq (may Allah be pleased with him) and Sayyiduna ‘Umar al-Faruq (may Allah be pleased with him) were also present in the congregation. Both of them, out of fear, did not speak, and the hasty people left saying that the prayer had been shortened. Then a man, who was called Dhu’l-Yadayn (the one with two hands—although everyone has two hands, but his hands were long, so he was given this name), stood up and said, “O Messenger of Allah! Has the prayer been reduced or did you forget?” The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), upon hearing this, looked to his right and left and said, “What does Dhu’l-Yadayn say?” The people said, “O Messenger of Allah, he is speaking the truth; you have only prayed two rak‘ahs.” Upon hearing this, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) prayed two more rak‘ahs and ended the prayer with salam. Then he said takbir and performed sajdah, then said takbir and raised his head, then said takbir and performed sajdah, then said takbir and raised his head. (Muhammad bin Sirin) said that ‘Imran bin Husayn narrated this to me and said that (at the end) he ended with salam.