one of the disbelievers—either Abū Jahl or someone else—who had forbidden the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, to pray, saying: ‘If I see him praying, I will tread on his neck.’ But when he saw him prostrating, he witnessed such horrors that he turned back on his heels.” Thus, when it is said:

“Have you seen the one who forbids a servant when he prays?”

you know the particular prayer being performed; the wording is neither ambiguous nor general in scope.

Then, when the five daily prayers were made obligatory on the night of the Ascension, the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, instituted the prayers for them at their appointed times the following morning. Gabriel led the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, in prayer, and the Muslims followed the Prophet in prayer. Thus, when they were told:

“Establish prayer,”

they knew that it meant that particular prayer. It is also said that, before this, he had two prayers, one at each end of the day; these too were known to them. They were therefore never addressed using any of these terms without already knowing what it denoted. There is consequently no ambiguity here, nor does the wording encompass everything that may be called pilgrimage, supplication, or fasting. That would only be the case if the wording were unqualified, but it never occurred in that form.

The same applies to “faith” and “Islam”: their meanings were among the clearest things to them. Gabriel questioned the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, about them while they listened, and the Prophet said:

“This is Gabriel, who came to teach you your religion.”

The purpose was to explain to them the fullness of these terms and the realities they should aspire to, lest they content themselves with the bare minimum that these terms denote. This is like his statement in the authentic hadith:

“The needy person is not this man who goes around begging, whom a morsel or two, or a date or two, will send away. Rather, the needy person is one who lacks sufficient means, whose plight goes unnoticed so that he is not given charity, and who does not beg insistently.”

They already knew what a needy person was: someone in need. And this usage was