his prayer:

“Go and pray, for you have not prayed”—twice or three times. The man said, “By Him who sent you with the truth, I cannot do any better than this, so teach me how to perform my prayer adequately.”

The Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—then taught him to pray with stillness. He did not command him to repeat the prayers he had performed before that time, despite his saying, “By Him who sent you with the truth, I cannot do any better than this.” He did, however, command him to repeat that particular prayer, because its prescribed time had not yet ended, and he was therefore commanded to perform it within its time. As for the prayers whose prescribed times had ended, he did not command him to repeat them, even though he had omitted some of their obligatory elements, because he had not known that those elements were obligatory for him.

Likewise, he did not command ʿUmar ibn al-Khattāb—may Allah be pleased with him—to make up the prayers he had omitted because of major ritual impurity, since he had not known that it was permissible to pray with tayammum.

Similarly, the woman suffering from irregular vaginal bleeding said to him, “I suffer severe, abnormal bleeding that prevents me from fasting and praying.” He commanded her to perform ablution for each prayer, but did not command her to make up what she had omitted.

Likewise, those who ate during Ramadan until they could distinguish white cords from black cords ate after dawn had broken, yet he did not command them to repeat their fasts. These people had been unaware of what was obligatory, so he did not command them to make up what they had omitted while in a state of