“Whoever catches one rak‘ah of the prayer has caught the prayer.” (1) The definite article in his statement, “the prayer,” refers to a specific prayer; that is, he has caught the prayer of whose time he caught one rak‘ah. As for the prayer before it, he caught none of its time, for its entire time had passed while he was not legally accountable. How, then, can we oblige him to make it up?!

Likewise, the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said: “Whoever catches one rak‘ah of the afternoon prayer before the sun sets has caught the afternoon prayer.” (2) He did not mention that the noon prayer must be made up.

As for the rational argument, they said: This is what sound analogy entails. We agree that if someone catches one rak‘ah of the noon prayer and then a factor removing legal accountability arises, he is required to make up only the noon prayer, even though the time of the noon prayer is, in cases of an excuse permitting combination, a time for both the noon and afternoon prayers. So what is the difference between the two cases?! In both, the time of one of the two prayers passed while the person was not legally accountable. Yet in the first case, the time of the first prayer passed, whereas in the second case, the time of the second prayer passed. Therefore, either you require him to make up the prayers in both cases, as some scholars have held (3), or you do not require him to do so in either case, as others have also held (253). But there is no basis for making a distinction.

If they say, “We made this distinction on the basis of the report transmitted from the Companions,” (4) the response is that the report transmitted from the Companions—if authentic—should be understood as a matter of