al-Shāfiʿī and others said that if a boy performs a prayer and then reaches puberty, he need not repeat it, because it is that very prayer which he performed before it became obligatory upon him. This is also one position within Ahmad’s school, and it is stronger than the view that repetition is obligatory. Those who require repetition draw an analogy with Hajj, but there is a distinction between the two, as explained at length elsewhere.

What we have said about ablution applies equally to tayammum (dry ablution). Thus, scholars have said that dry ablution is like ablution: it is a means of purification for a Muslim so long as he cannot find water. Even if he performs dry ablution before the prayer time and does so for a voluntary prayer, he may use it to offer an obligatory prayer and other prayers. This is the position of Ibn ʿAbbās.

It is also the position of many scholars, including Abū Hanīfah and others, and one of the two views reported from Ahmad. The other view—that dry ablution must be performed for each prayer—is the well-known position in the schools of Mālik, al-Shāfiʿī, and Ahmad. It is a view that has not been reliably established from anyone else among the Companions, as explained at length in its proper place.

Thus the verse is definitive, praise be to Allah. It retains its stated meaning: everyone who rises to pray is commanded to perform ablution. If he has already performed ablution, he has done well, fulfilled the obligation before further delay becomes impermissible, and hastened to good deeds, like someone who sets out for Friday prayer before the call. It is therefore clear that the verse contains neither ellipsis nor any restriction of its general scope, nor does it indicate