—it was clear that what the man had done was not prayer. Yet the Prophet had not known that he was unaware of the obligation to come to rest in the postures of prayer. He therefore initially instructed him to repeat it, then taught him to come to rest when the man said:
“By Him Who sent you with the truth, I cannot do any better than this.”
These, then, are his explicit statements—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—concerning acts prohibited in prayer, fasting and Hajj when committed in ignorance, and those who omit their obligatory elements out of ignorance.
As for his instruction that the person who prayed behind the row repeat his prayer, this was because he had failed to fulfil an obligation while the prayer time still remained. The obligation thus became binding upon him when the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, instructed him, since the time for fulfilling it had not yet ended. He did not instruct him to do this after the time had passed.
As for his instruction that the person who left a patch of his foot untouched by water repeat his ablution and prayer, this was because the man had forgotten and had therefore failed to fulfil an obligation, like someone who forgets to pray. The prayer time also still remained. This was a particular incident involving a specific individual; it could not have occurred both within the prayer time and after it. I mean that he saw a patch on a man’s foot which the water had not reached, so he instructed him to repeat his ablution and prayer. Abū Dāwūd narrated it, and Ahmad ibn Hanbal said, “It is a good hadith.”
As for his words:
“Woe to the heels from the Fire!”
and similar statements, these indicate only that ablution must be completed thoroughly. They contain no instruction to repeat anything.
Likewise, anyone who believes that prayer is no longer obligatory for those with spiritual knowledge, or for shaykhs who have attained spiritual realization, or for some of their followers; or that the shaykh prays on their behalf; or that Allah has servants