He always gets confused whilst praying [as to how many rak’ahs he has done]. Should he act on the basis of what he is certain of or what he thinks is most likely? This happens to him a lot, so should he forgo doing sujood al-sahw (prostration of forgetfulness) in order to ward off waswaas (insinuating whispers from the Shaytaan)?
We put this question to Shaykh Muhammad ibn Saalih al-‘Uthaymeen, may Allaah preserve him, who answered as follows:
He should not pay attention to those doubts and he should not do sujood al-sahw for them, because too many doubts lead to waswaas.
