of them to make up the prayers they had omitted while in a state of disbelief during their apostasy, just as he did not instruct other disbelievers to do so when they embraced Islam. During his lifetime, many people apostatized and followed al-Aswad al-ʿAnsī, who claimed prophethood in Sanaa, Yemen. Then Allah brought about his death, and those people returned to Islam without being instructed to make up their prayers. Musaylima the Liar also claimed prophethood, and many people followed him. After the Prophet’s death, al-Siddīq and the Companions fought them until they brought the survivors back to Islam. He did not instruct any of them to make up their prayers. The same applies to the other apostates after the Prophet’s death. Most of the desert-dwellers had apostatized and then returned to Islam, yet he did not instruct any of them to make up the prayers they had omitted.

Allah’s words:

“Tell those who disbelieve that if they desist, their past will be forgiven.”

apply to every disbeliever.

If, however, it is said that these people were not apostates but were unaware that prayer was obligatory, it has already been explained that the stronger view concerning them is that they should begin praying in the prescribed manner, without having to make up past prayers. This, then, is the ruling concerning someone who abandons prayer without believing it to be obligatory.

As for someone who believes it to be obligatory yet persists in abandoning it, jurists who elaborate hypothetical cases have set out several cases concerning him: