like someone who says that a person who arrives for Friday prayer before the call must make the journey again. During their Prophet’s lifetime, the Muslims used to perform ablution for the dawn prayer and other prayers before their prescribed times began. The same applies to the sunset prayer: the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, would offer it promptly, praying as soon as the sun disappeared from view. Many of his Companions lived far from the mosque. Had they not performed ablution before sunset, they would not have caught the beginning of the prayer with him; indeed, they might have missed it entirely because of the distance. He himself, peace and blessings be upon him, did not perform ablution after sunset, nor did those present with him in the mosque, and he did not instruct anyone to renew his ablution after sunset. All this is known with certainty.

I know of no reliably established dissent from the Companions on this point—no view that someone who performs ablution before the prayer’s time begins must repeat it once its time has begun. Nor is renewing ablution recommended for someone in this situation.

The jurists discussed only whether someone who has already prayed with his first ablution is recommended to renew it. As for someone who has not yet prayed with it, repeating his ablution is not recommended. Rather, renewing ablution in such circumstances is a religious innovation contrary to the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, and to the practice of the Muslims during his lifetime and thereafter, down to the present day.

Thus it is clear that, before rising for prayer, such a person has already fulfilled this obligation before further delay becomes impermissible, just like someone who sets out for Friday prayer before the call, or someone who repays a debt before it falls due. For this reason,