Accordingly, Allah—glorious and mighty—said concerning the hypocrites:

“Never offer the funeral prayer for any of them who dies, nor stand at his grave. Indeed, they disbelieved in Allah and His Messenger and died while defiantly disobedient.” [al-Tawbah: 84]

He—glorious and mighty—also said:

“Those Bedouins who offered excuses came seeking permission, while those who had lied to Allah and His Messenger stayed behind.” [al-Tawbah: 90]

—to the end of the verse.

Then Allah—glorious and mighty—commanded the believers not to hold their own lives dearer than the life of the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—when striving alongside him, and to endure with him every hardship that might befall them. Allah—glorious and mighty—said:

“It was not for the people of Medina and the Bedouins around them to remain behind the Messenger of Allah or to hold their own lives dearer than his. That is because they suffer neither thirst, fatigue, nor hunger in the path of Allah; nor do they tread any ground that enrages the disbelievers or achieve any success against an enemy, without a righteous deed being recorded for them on its account. Indeed, Allah does not allow the reward of those who do good to be lost.”

Then Allah—glorious and mighty—charged His Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—with explaining on His behalf. He—glorious and mighty—said:

“We sent down the Reminder to you so that you might make clear to people what was sent down to them, and so that they might reflect.” [al-Nahl: 44]

Among the matters he explained to his community was that Allah—glorious and mighty—had made ritual purification and prayer obligatory upon them in His Book, yet in it He had not informed him of the times of prayer, the number of bowings, the number of prostrations, nor