was asked about the extent of doubt that a particular man was having as to how many units of prayer he had performed, such that he neither knew how many he had performed, nor how many he had left. He replied, 'He should repeat it'. So we asked him, 'But this state is so excessive in him that every time he repeats [his prayer] he doubts again.' He said, 'Then he should continue regardless of his doubt.' Then he said, 'Do not accustom the malignant [part] of yourselves to the breaking of the prayer lest you arouse further greed in it, for verily Satan is malignant and gets habituated to whatever he is made accustomed to. So you should ignore that insinuation [and continue], and you should not break your prayers often, and if you do this [i.e. ignore the doubt] often enough, the doubt will not resurface.' Zurara narrated: Then he (AS) said, 'Verily the malignant wants to be obeyed, so when it is disobeyed, it does not return to you.'