your left thigh, then recite the tashahhud. Then, when you stand, do likewise until you have finished your prayer.” Another narration states that he said: “Perform ablution as Allah has commanded you, then bear witness and complete [it], then say, ‘Allah is the Greatest.’ If you know any of the Quran, recite it; otherwise, praise Allah, Mighty and Majestic, proclaim His greatness, and affirm His oneness.” It also records him as saying: “If you omit any part of it, your prayer will be diminished accordingly.”

Thus, the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, commanded the man who had performed his prayer poorly to repeat it. When a command from Allah and His Messenger is stated without qualification, it entails obligation. He commanded him to observe calm repose when he stood to pray, just as he commanded him to bow and prostrate; and his unqualified command denotes obligation.

Moreover, he told him, “You have not prayed,” thereby denying that his initial act constituted prayer. An act can only be denied when one of its obligatory requirements is absent. If a person performs it as Allah, Mighty and Majestic, has required, it cannot properly be denied merely because a recommended, non-obligatory element is absent.

As for the claim made by some people that this merely negates completeness—as in his statement, “There is no prayer for one who lives next to the mosque except in the mosque”—the response is: Yes, it negates completeness, but does it negate completeness because some obligatory elements are absent, or because some recommended elements are absent?

The former is true, whereas the latter is false. No such usage is ever found in