any of you while resisting the urge to urinate or defecate, or when food is present.” This is because such things distract the heart.

Abū al-Dardā’ said:

“A sign of a man’s understanding is that he first attends to his needs, then turns to his prayer with an unoccupied heart.”

If prayer is forbidden whenever a person is deprived of reason—even through something permissible—until he knows what he is saying, then it is all the more clearly impermissible for an insane person to pray, or anyone who falls within that designation, even if described as distraught or bewildered.

It is well known that prayer is “the finest act of worship,” as reported in the two Sahīh collections from Ibn Masʿūd, who said:

“I asked the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, ‘Which deed is most beloved to Allah?’

“He replied, ‘Prayer at its appointed time.’

“I asked, ‘Then which?’

“He replied, ‘Dutifulness to one’s parents.’

“I asked, ‘Then which?’

“He replied, ‘Striving in Allah’s cause.’”

Ibn Masʿūd said: “The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, told me these things, and had I asked him for more, he would have told me more.”

It is also authentically reported in the two Sahīh collections that he ranked faith in Allah and striving in His cause as the best deeds, followed by an accepted Hajj.

There is no contradiction between the two reports, for prayer is included within the meaning of faith in Allah, just as it is included in His words, Most High:

“Allah would never let your faith go to waste.”

Al-Barā’ ibn ʿĀzib and others among the early generations said: “That is, your prayers facing Jerusalem.”

For this reason, prayer, like faith, cannot under any circumstances be performed on another’s behalf. No one may perform another person’s obligatory prayer, whether there is an excuse or not, just as no one can have faith on another’s behalf; nor