calling him a neck, a head, a face, and the like, as in the words of Allah Most High: “then the freeing of a neck” [al-Mujādalah: 3] [al-Mujādalah: 3]. If prayer could exist without glorification, the command to glorify could not properly serve as a command to pray, for the expression would then indicate neither its meaning nor what that meaning necessarily entails.

Furthermore, Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, censured humanity as a whole and exempted only those who pray and remain constant in their prayer, [as] He Most High said: “Indeed, man was created restless: distressed when evil touches him, and withholding when good touches him—except those who pray, those who remain constant in their prayer.” [al-Ma'ārij: 19–23] [al-Ma'ārij] The early generations, among the Companions and those who came after them, interpreted constancy in prayer as observing its appointed times and as remaining engaged in its acts with attentiveness. The verse encompasses both meanings, for He said: “those who remain constant in their prayer.” [al-Ma'ārij: 23] One who is constant in performing an act is one who maintains it and performs it continually. If, with respect to an act performed at separate times, this means performing it every day rather than performing it on one occasion and omitting it on another—and this is called constancy in it—then maintaining a single, uninterrupted act is all the more properly described as constancy and all the more entitled to be encompassed by the verse. This indicates that the acts of prayer must be sustained, because Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, censured humanity as a whole and exempted those who maintain prayer in this manner. Anyone who fails to sustain its acts would therefore be blameworthy in the sight of the Lawgiver, and the Lawgiver censures only the omission of an obligation or the commission of something prohibited.

Furthermore, He, Glorified and Exalted, said: “except those who pray, those who remain constant in their prayer.” [al-Ma'ārij: 22–23] This indicates that a person may pray yet either be constant in his prayer or not, and that one who prays without being constant is blameworthy. This necessarily entails censuring anyone who does not sustain his acts of prayer, whether continuous or performed at separate times; and if