and at other times he would mention what was obligatory upon the questioner. Those whom he answered by mentioning prayer and fasting had no zakat to pay. As for those whom he answered by mentioning prayer, zakat, and fasting, either this occurred before Hajj became obligatory—which must be the case with reports such as that of ‘Abd al-Qays—or the questioner was someone for whom Hajj was not obligatory.

Prayer and zakat have a standing unlike that of the other obligations. For this reason, Allah Most High mentioned in His Book fighting over them, because they are both acts of worship. Fasting, by contrast, is an inward matter entrusted to people’s honesty. In this respect, it is like ablution, ritual bathing following sexual defilement, and similar matters entrusted to the servant. A person can refrain from intending to fast and can eat secretly, just as he can conceal his state of minor or major ritual impurity. Prayer and zakat, however, are outward matters from which a person cannot refrain while living among the believers.

When speaking of Islam, he, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, would mention the outward deeds for whose neglect people are fought and by performing which they become Muslims. He therefore made this conditional upon prayer and zakat, rather than fasting, even though fasting is obligatory. This is the case in the two verses of Surah Barā’ah, which, by universal agreement, was revealed after fasting became obligatory.

Likewise, “when he sent Mu‘ādh ibn Jabal to Yemen, he said to him: ‘You are going to a people from among the People of the Book. Let the first thing to which you call them be the testimony that there is no deity worthy of worship except Allah and that I am the Messenger of Allah. If they respond to you in this, inform them that Allah has enjoined upon them five prayers each day and night. If they obey you in this, inform them that Allah has enjoined upon them charity to be taken from their rich and given to their poor. If they obey you in this,