is deemed nonexistent in the Sacred Law. Thus, if a person performs a prayer without ablution, carrying out all of its actions, it has no legal existence, even though it exists in reality.

But if this is not possible—because the act of worship remains valid despite the presence of this matter—then the negation denotes a lack of completeness.

For example, when we say, “There is no creator except Allah,” this negates existence: there is no creator other than Allah, may He be glorified and exalted.

And when you say, “There is no prayer without purification,” this negates validity, because a person may in fact pray without purification.

If, however, the evidence indicates that it is valid, then the negation denotes a lack of completeness, as in: “There is no faith for one who has no trustworthiness,” meaning, no complete faith; and: “None of you truly believes until he loves for his brother what he loves for himself,” meaning, no complete faith. Apply this principle accordingly.

Thus, his statement, “There is no prayer after the rising of dawn except the two rak‘ahs of Fajr,” means that it is not valid.

But the sounder view is that the prohibition relates to the Fajr prayer itself. As for the period between the call to prayer and the commencement of the congregational prayer, it is not a prohibited time; yet no prayer other than the two rak‘ahs of Fajr is legislated during it.

This is because Sahih Muslim and other collections establish that the ruling is linked to the prayer itself: “There is no prayer after the Fajr prayer until the sun rises.” (1)