do not negate the designation of anything commanded by Allah and His Messenger unless some of its obligatory requirements have been omitted, as in his words:

“There is no prayer without the Mother of the Quran.”

And his words:

“There is no faith in one who is not trustworthy, and no religion in one who does not keep his covenant.”

The same applies to similar statements. But when an act is recommended within an “act of worship,” he does not negate that worship because the recommended act is absent. If this were permissible, it would be permissible to deny faith, prayer, zakat, and Hajj to most believers. For there is no deed but another is better than it, and no one performs righteous deeds as the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, did—or even as Abū Bakr or ʿUmar did. If it were permissible to negate these acts of worship for someone who had not attained their recommended completeness, it would be permissible to negate them for most Muslims, earlier and later alike. No reasonable person would say this.

Thus, if someone says that what is negated is completeness, then if he means “obligatory completeness,” the omission of which makes a person blameworthy and liable to punishment, he has spoken correctly. But if he means “recommended completeness,” this has never occurred in the speech of Allah and His Messenger, nor could it properly occur. For when someone fulfills an obligation as required, omitting none of its obligatory requirements, it is not permissible to say that he has not fulfilled it, whether literally or figuratively.

Thus, when he said to the Bedouin who prayed improperly:

“Go back and pray, for you have not prayed,”

and said to the man who prayed behind the row—having ordered him to repeat the prayer:

“There is no prayer for one who stands alone behind the row,”

this was because an obligatory requirement had been omitted. Likewise, the words of the Most High:

“The believers are only those who believe in Allah and His Messenger, then never doubt, and strive with their wealth and their lives in the cause of Allah. It is they who are the truthful,”

make clear that striving in Allah’s cause is obligatory and that refraining from doubt is obligatory.