you were to die, you would die upon something other than the natural disposition upon which Allah created Muhammad—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—and upon something other than the Sunnah.” Both expressions refer here to religion and the revealed law, not to performing recommended acts, for omitting those does not warrant such censure and warning. Hardly anyone reaches death having observed every recommended practice that the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—performed.

Moreover, in their speech, “natural disposition” and “Sunnah” mean religion and the revealed law. Some people have, however, adopted a technical usage in which “Sunnah” means what is not obligatory, and it may indeed bear that meaning, as in his saying—may Allah bless him and grant him peace:

“Allah has made fasting Ramadan obligatory upon you, and I have instituted its night prayers for you.”

Nevertheless, the term encompasses the obligatory practices he instituted even more emphatically than the voluntary ones. As reported in the Sahīh, Ibn Mas‘ūd—may Allah be pleased with him—said:

“Allah has prescribed for your Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—the ways of guidance. These congregational prayers are among the ways of guidance. If you were to pray in your homes as this man who stays away prays in his home, you would abandon the Sunnah of your Prophet. If you abandoned the Sunnah of your Prophet, you would go astray. I remember when none of us stayed away except a man known for his hypocrisy.”

Another example is his saying—may Allah bless him and grant him peace:

“Adhere to my Sunnah and the Sunnah of the rightly guided caliphs who come after me. Hold fast to it and bite onto it with your molar teeth.”

Furthermore, Allah—glorified and exalted be He—has commanded in His Book that prayer be established, and has censured those who pray yet are heedless of their prayer and neglect it. He, the Exalted, says in several places:

“And establish