a messenger.” Thus, if the Messenger’s command concerning a particular matter has not reached someone, its obligatory character is not established for him. This is why, when ʿUmar and ʿAmmār entered a state of major ritual impurity, and ʿUmar did not pray while ʿAmmār prayed after rolling himself in the dust, the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, did not instruct either of them to repeat his prayers. Likewise, he did not instruct Abū Dharr to make up his prayers when he would enter a state of major ritual impurity and remain for days without praying. Nor did he instruct those Companions who continued eating until they could distinguish a white cord from a black cord to make up their fasts, just as he did not instruct those who prayed towards Jerusalem before news of the abrogation reached them to make up their prayers.

Another case of this kind is that of a woman experiencing non-menstrual bleeding who refrains from praying for a time because she believes prayer is not obligatory for her. There are two opinions concerning whether she must make up those prayers. One is that she need not repeat them, as reported from Mālik and others. This is because:

“When the woman experiencing non-menstrual bleeding said to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, ‘I have suffered severe, heavy, abnormal bleeding that has prevented me from praying and fasting,’ he instructed her concerning her future obligations but did not instruct her to make up her past prayers.”

It has been established to me through mass-transmitted reports that some women and men, in desert regions and elsewhere, reach puberty without knowing that prayer is obligatory for them. Indeed, when a woman is told, “Pray,” she says, “Not until I grow older and become an old woman,” imagining that the obligation to pray applies only to older women, such as elderly women and the like. And among the followers of shaykhs