Or, on the fourth night,[1] when they gathered, he said, “Nothing kept me from coming out to you except my reluctance lest it be made obligatory upon you. So pray in your homes, for a person’s best prayer is in his house—apart from the obligatory prayers.”[2]

Thus the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, attributed his remaining indoors to the fear that the practice might become mandatory. This indicates that the motive for leading them in prayer was present, and that, were it not for that fear, he would have come out to them.

When ʿUmar—may Allah be pleased with him—assumed leadership, he gathered the people behind a single reciter and had lamps lit in the mosque. The resulting arrangement—congregating in the mosque behind one imam with the lamps burning—was something they had not previously done, so it was called a bidʿah, for in linguistic usage the term applies. Yet it was not an innovation in the legal sense, because the Sunnah showed it to be a meritorious act were it not for the fear of obligation, and that fear disappeared with the Prophet’s death, peace and blessings be upon him; hence the impediment was removed.[3]

The same reasoning applies to the compilation of the Qur’an. During the Messenger’s lifetime, revelation was still descending; Allah would abrogate what He willed and confirm what He willed. Had the Qur’an been gathered into a single codex, constant revision would have been difficult, if not impossible. Once the Qur’an was settled at his passing and the Sacred Law stabilized, people were safe from additions or omissions to the Qur’an and from new commands or prohibitions. The motive for acting remained, established by his Sunnah, peace and blessings be upon him and his family.[4]