Moreover, fasting the two months consecutively is obligatory according to the explicit texts of the Quran and Sunnah and scholarly consensus. Yet Muslims agree that interrupting the fast for an unavoidable excuse—such as menstruation—does not break the required continuity.

Ahmad’s position on this is more accommodating than that of others. In his view, if continuity is interrupted by a legally recognized excuse that makes its maintenance impossible, even though the excuse could have been avoided—such as when the two months are interrupted by the Ramadan fast, the day of Eid al-Fitr, the day of sacrifice, the days of Minā, illness, postnatal bleeding, or the like—this does not invalidate the required continuity. If, however, someone breaks the fast for an excuse that permits doing so, such as travel, there are two views within his school. This reasoning applies all the more to ablution when its continuity is interrupted for a legally recognized excuse, even if that excuse could have been avoided.

Moreover, continuity is obligatory when reciting al-Fātihah. They said that if someone recites part of it and then remains silent for a long time without an excuse, he must recite it again from the beginning. But if he remains silent to listen to the imam’s recitation, or interrupts his recitation with a prescribed remembrance—such as saying “Āmīn” or the like—its continuity is not invalidated. Rather, he completes the recitation without starting over. The case of ablution is exactly the same, since he has interrupted it for a legally recognized excuse. It is well known that continuity in speech is more strictly required than continuity in actions.

Moreover, Ahmad’s expressly stated position concerning contracts is likewise: continuity between offer and acceptance is obligatory, such that if acceptance is delayed after the offer—until