for him (1). However, Abu Hanifah, may Allah have mercy on him, held that if they are five prayers or fewer, he must make them up (2), because this is easy and manageable; but if they exceed five, he need not make them up. Abu Hanifah’s view is based to some extent on rational consideration and personal reasoning: he adopted the reasoning of those who require making them up, while also holding that the obligation falls away due to hardship. Yet there is no doubt that such a precise distinction requires evidence; otherwise, it is arbitrary, for the person who would not find five prayers burdensome would not find six burdensome either.

When we consider the reasoning, the stronger view is that he need not make them up at all, because analogizing his case to that of a sleeper is unsound: a sleeper awakens when roused, whereas one who has fainted has no awareness.

Moreover, sleep is frequent and habitual; if we were to say that he need not make up the prayers, many obligatory prayers would be waived. Fainting, however, may not occur to a person throughout his entire life; he may fall from a high place and faint, or he may be afflicted with an illness and faint.

As for Ammar’s making up the prayers—if this is authentically reported from him—it may be understood as recommended, or as an act of scrupulous caution, or the like (3).