a legally accountable person before the directive reaches him. There are three opinions on this within Ahmad’s school and elsewhere:

The first is that it becomes binding in all cases.

The second is that it does not become binding in any case.

The third is that an initial directive becomes binding, but an abrogating directive does not, as illustrated by the case of the people of Qubā and the well-known disagreement concerning a dismissed agent: does his dismissal take effect before he learns of it?

Accordingly, if someone omits obligatory purification because the relevant text has not reached him—for example, he eats camel meat without performing ablution, then the text reaches him and he understands that ablution is obligatory—or he prays in camel resting places, then the text reaches him and its meaning becomes clear to him, must he repeat his past prayers? There are two opinions on this, both reported from Ahmad. A similar case is that of someone who touches his penis and then prays, only later learning that touching the penis requires ablution.

The correct view in all these cases is that repeating the prayers is not obligatory, because Allah has pardoned mistakes and forgetfulness, and because He says:

“We never punish until We have sent