himself and realized that he had made a grave mistake. For this reason, al-Muwaffaq, may Allah have mercy on him, said in his book Censure of the Obsessive: “Some scholars have said: ‘If Allah were to charge us with an act without an intention, that would be imposing what is beyond one’s capacity.’” This is correct. If you were told, “Perform ablution, but do not intend ablution; pray, but do not intend the prayer,” this would be impossible.
It is true that a person may fail to specify the particular act: he intends the act itself, but the specific designation escapes his mind. Thus, he comes to the mosque for the noon prayer, says the opening takbir, and prays, yet it does not occur to him that he intended the noon prayer, for example. However, he did intend to perform the obligatory prayer of that time. Is this sufficient or not?
The answer is that some scholars said that the prayer is not valid, because it is necessary to specify it. Some of Imam Ahmad’s followers, however—namely Ibn Shaqla, may Allah have mercy on him—said that it is sufficient for him to intend the obligatory prayer of that time. Praise be to Allah, this gives people some latitude, for a person often comes and enters the prayer—especially when the imam is bowing—in haste, and may not form the specific intention. Yet if you asked him, “What did you intend?” he would say, “I intended to perform the obligatory prayer.”
His statement, “Whoever omits another pillar”: that is, other than ihram, his rite is not complete without it. Thus, if he omits the circumambulation—forgetting to perform the circumambulation of ifadah—we say: his pilgrimage is not complete, and he must perform it. But if the omitted pillar is one whose time may be missed, then the pilgrimage has lapsed. This would be the case if he omitted standing at Arafah until dawn broke on the Day of Eid: the pilgrimage is over, and he can no longer stand there. If he were to say, “I will stand on the Day of Eid and make it up; indeed, I have stronger evidence on my side than you do, because I forgot, and 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’” (1),