and recite its later verses before its earlier ones, this would be impermissible by consensus. The disagreement concerns only the order of the surahs. Ahmad stated this explicitly and related the practice of the people of Mecca. He was asked: “If the imam omits verses from a surah during Ramadan, do you think someone praying behind him should recite them?” He replied: “Yes, he should do so. In Mecca, they used to appoint a man to record whatever the imam omitted, whether letters or other portions. Then, on the night when the recitation of the Quran was completed, he would recite what had been omitted.”

Scholars of the school, such as Abū Muhammad, said: “He recommended this only so that the recitation of the entire Quran would be complete and the reward attained in full.”

Thus, the people of Mecca, Ahmad, and his followers considered that reciting only the forgotten verses completes the recitation of the Quran and its reward, even though the order has been disrupted here, since the surah had not been recited in full. A similar practice is reported from ʿAlī, may Allah be pleased with him: he forgot a verse from a surah, then recited it partway through his recitation and returned to where he had left off. No one realized that he had forgotten anything except those who had memorized it.

Likewise, someone who forgets to wash a limb, or part of it, should wash only that part, without washing the subsequent parts again, which would mean washing them twice. There is no need for this.

This distinction accords with what has been transmitted from the Companions and the majority of scholars. For the Companions and others acted in this way, as Ibn al-Mundhir related from ʿAlī, Makhūl, al-Nakhaʿī,