Allah has required His servants to believe in and act upon is what the Prophet brought after prophethood. Thus, in their view, anyone who abandons the Friday and congregational prayers and withdraws into caves and mountains where neither is held, claiming to follow the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—because he used to devote himself to worship in the Cave of Hirā before prophethood, is mistaken. Such a person abandons the prescribed acts of worship that Allah commanded His Messenger to perform, instead following what he did before prophethood.

After Allah honoured him with prophethood, the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—no longer practised his earlier devotions in the Cave of Hirā or anything similar. He remained in Mecca for over ten years after prophethood and returned there after the migration for the make-up umrah, the conquest of Mecca, and the umrah from al-Ji‘rānah, yet he did not seek out the Cave of Hirā. Likewise, none of his Companions after him would visit the Cave of Hirā, nor would they withdraw to remote places and abandon the Friday and congregational prayers. None of them undertook a forty-day retreat, as some later people do. Rather, they worshipped Allah through the prescribed acts of worship instituted for them by the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—in whom Allah required them to believe and whom He required them to follow. These included the five daily prayers and other prayers, fasting and devotional retreats in mosques, various forms of remembrance and supplication, recitation, and jihad.

As for the questioner’s words, “what he said during his lifetime, or after prophethood, or by way of legislation”: everything he said after prophethood that was allowed to stand and was not abrogated constitutes legislation. However, legislation