It remains to discuss the case where there is a third person who is not qualified for independent legal reasoning—that is, there are two men who have independently determined the qiblah, and with them is a third man who is not qualified for such reasoning. The author has explained this in his statement:

“The follower must follow whichever of the two is more reliable in his judgment.

“Whoever prays without independent reasoning or following another must repeat the prayer if he can find someone to follow.”

His statement, “The follower must follow whichever of the two is more reliable in his judgment,” means that if two qualified persons independently determine the direction of the qiblah, and one says, “The qiblah is here,” pointing in one direction, while the other says, “The qiblah is here,” pointing in a different direction, and there is a third man with them, then he must follow the one whom he considers more reliable. If he follows the less reliable one despite the presence of the more reliable one, his prayer is invalid, because he himself believes it to be invalid; he is then like one playing about in his prayer.

His statement, “Whoever prays without independent reasoning or following another must repeat the prayer if he can find someone to follow,” means: whoever prays without independent reasoning, if he is capable of it, or without following another, if he is not capable of it, must repeat the prayer, because he has failed to do what is obligatory upon him. He has therefore been negligent, and repetition is required of him.

An example is a man capable of independent reasoning, who knows the indications for determining the qiblah from the Pole Star, the sun, or the moon, but prays without undertaking such reasoning. He must repeat the prayer.

The apparent meaning of the author’s words is that he must repeat it even if he happened to face the correct direction. This is because he did not fulfill the obligation of independent reasoning incumbent upon him, and his having faced the correct direction occurred merely by coincidence, not because he relied upon that direction, for he did not