to silence him, until he fell silent. When he had concluded the prayer, the Messenger, peace and blessings be upon him, called him over. Mu‘awiyah said: “May my father and mother be sacrificed for him! I have never seen a teacher whose teaching was better than his.” The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said: “This prayer is not suited to any of people’s ordinary speech; it consists only of glorifying Allah, proclaiming His greatness, and reciting the Quran.” (1) He did not command him to repeat the prayer, because he was ignorant.

The texts indicating this principle—that there is no blame in cases of forgetfulness, ignorance, and compulsion—are numerous. This follows from Allah’s saying: “Your Lord has taken it upon Himself to be merciful: whoever among you commits evil out of ignorance, then repents afterwards and reforms, then He is truly All-Forgiving, Most Merciful.” [al-An‘am 6:54] And in the sacred hadith, Allah says: “My mercy has preceded My wrath.” (2)

As for failing to perform obligatory duties, forgetfulness, ignorance, and compulsion do not waive them whenever they can be made up. The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said: “Whoever sleeps through a prayer or forgets it, let him pray it when he remembers it.” (3) Thus, it is not waived on account of forgetfulness. Moreover, the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, did not waive the current prayer on account of ignorance, as in the hadith of the man who performed his prayer improperly: (4) he commanded him to repeat it, despite his ignorance, because he had omitted something commanded.