beyond its appointed time. Allah, glorified is He, has thus declared that woe awaits whoever neglects it, even if he performs it. Whoever is threatened with woe cannot have had his deed accepted, even if he has other sins. If a person does not comply with the command in performing the deed itself, that deed will not be accepted.

Abū Bakr al-Siddīq, may Allah be pleased with him, said in his counsel to ʿUmar:

“Know that Allah has a right due at night which He does not accept by day, and a right due by day which He does not accept at night, and that He does not accept voluntary worship until you fulfil the obligatory worship.”

And Allah knows best.

He, may Allah have mercy on him, was asked:

“Is someone who abandons prayer without an excuse still a Muslim in that state?”

He replied:

If someone abandons prayer because he does not believe it to be obligatory, he is a disbeliever according to the scriptural texts and scholarly consensus. However, if he embraces Islam without knowing that Allah has made prayer obligatory upon him, or that some of its essential elements are obligatory—for example, he prays without ablution, not knowing that Allah has required him to perform ablution, or prays in a state of major ritual impurity, not knowing that Allah has required him to perform a full ritual bath to remove it—then he is not a disbeliever so long as he does not know.

Once he learns that it is obligatory, however, must he make up the prayers? Scholars within the schools of Ahmad, Mālik and others hold two views on this.

One view is that he must make them up. This is the well-known position among the scholars of al-Shāfiʿī’s school and many scholars of Ahmad’s school.

Another view is that he is not obliged to