Does one who was plagued by excessive doubt in his prayer, and simply proceeded as directed without thinking—such as not knowing which rak'ah he was in, or whether he recited the tashahhud—have to repeat it? And is anything incumbent upon him if he is not certain that he was excessively doubtful in all those prayers, knowing that he is often afflicted by waswas?

The majority of scholars hold that whoever doubts the number of rak'ahs (units) in prayer should base their count on the lesser number. For example, if one doubts whether they are in the second or third rak'ah, they should consider it the second. Ibn Taymiyyah disagreed, believing that one should base their count on what seems more probable to them. As for someone who is frequently afflicted by obsessive doubts, they should not pay attention to their uncertainties, because frequent doubts lead to obsessive compulsive disorder (waswas (definition)), and if they disregard them, it will not harm them.