But we say: as long as a person still has ample time, he must observe the proper sequence. Thus, if someone were to ask us during the Days of Tashriq and say that he had stoned out of sequence, it would be easy for us to tell him: “Go and stone in the proper order.” But if the matter has passed with the end of the Days of Tashriq, and he comes asking, saying, “I stoned without knowing, and I began with the Pillar of Aqabah,” then there is no harm in giving him the ruling that his stoning was valid. For there is no statement from the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, expressly requiring the sequence between them; rather, there is only his practice and the general command: “Learn your rites from me.”
This is especially so since many scholars have held that the required sequence between the limbs in ablution is waived because of ignorance or forgetfulness; likewise, the sequence between missed prayers is waived because of ignorance or forgetfulness, and the sequence between two prayers combined is waived because of ignorance. This indicates that if the sequence is disrupted due to one excuse or another, it is waived for the person, because he has performed the act of worship, though not in its proper order.
His statement, “If he stones all of it on the third day, it suffices him”: the pronoun refers to the pebbles for the pillars; that is, if he stones all of them on the third day—the thirteenth—it suffices him. The apparent meaning of the author’s words is that nothing further is due from him.
His statement, “and he arranges it by his intention,” means that he distinguishes the days through his intention. For example, he begins by stoning for the first day: the first pillar, then the middle one, then the Pillar of Aqabah. Then he returns and stones for the second day, beginning with the first, then the middle, then Aqabah. Then he returns and stones for the third day, beginning with the first, then the middle, then Aqabah. This is because each day is an independent act of worship, so he must perform the worship of the first day before that of the second day.
It is not valid for him to stone the first pillar for three days, then the middle pillar for three days, then Aqabah for three days, because that would lead to an overlap of