the well the prescribed time would expire, or if going to the bathhouse for the ritual bath would cause the prescribed time to expire, then, according to the majority of scholars, he should perform the ritual bath. Mālik—may Allah have mercy on him—says: Rather, he should pray after performing dry ablution, so as to observe the prescribed time.

The majority say: If he wakes near the end of the prescribed time, it is then that he becomes obliged to pray. Thus, in his case, purification and the prayer time are reckoned from the moment he wakes, and his allotted time is the period in which he can perform the prayer. The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said:

“Whoever sleeps through a prayer or forgets it should pray it when he remembers it, for that is its time.”

For someone who is asleep, therefore, the time in which he is commanded to pray is when he wakes, not before that; and for someone who has forgotten, it is when he remembers. And Allah knows best.

As for a woman or man who can go to the bathhouse but, upon entering, cannot leave until the prescribed time has elapsed—whether because they are being compelled to remain, as in the case of a slave boy whose master will not let him leave to pray, or a woman accompanied by her children who cannot leave until she has washed them, or similar circumstances—such people must do one of the following: perform the ritual bath and pray inside the bathhouse within the prescribed time; pray outside the bathhouse after the prescribed time has elapsed; or pray outside the bathhouse after performing dry ablution.

Each of these views is upheld in the fatwas of a group of scholars. The stronger view, however, is that they should pray outside the bathhouse after performing dry ablution, because praying in the bathhouse is forbidden, while allowing the prescribed time to elapse without praying is an even graver matter. There is no way to avoid both of these prohibitions except by praying