and thus deem obligatory what they prescribe: forming the intention during the night, mentioning Allah’s name, responding to the call to prayer, and the like.

Then, if a person omits some obligatory elements of an act of worship, should it be said that the entire act is invalid and earns him no reward? Or should it be said that he is rewarded for what he performed and punished for what he omitted? Must he repeat the act? This is determined by the scriptural evidence. Some obligatory elements of worship do not invalidate the act when omitted, nor must the person repeat it; rather, he must compensate for the omission. This applies to obligations of Hajj that are not pillars, such as stoning the pillars, or entering the state of consecration somewhere other than the prescribed station, and similar matters.

Likewise, according to the majority, including Mālik, Ahmad, and others, prayer contains obligatory elements whose omission does not invalidate it. Abū Hanīfa holds this concerning the recitation of al-Fātiha and remaining still in the prayer’s postures, as do Mālik and Ahmad concerning the first tashahhud (testimony of faith).

However, Mālik and Ahmad maintain that someone who omits any such element forgetfully must perform the prostrations of forgetfulness, whereas deliberately omitting it invalidates his prayer. Thus, deliberately omitting the first tashahhud invalidates the prayer according to the well-known position in their two schools. Mālik’s followers, however, call this an emphatic sunnah, by which they mean an obligation.

Abū Hanīfa, on the other hand, holds that whoever deliberately omits an obligatory element (wājib) that is not an essential requirement (fard) has acted wrongly but need not repeat the act. The majority say: We know of no obligatory element of worship that a person may omit without providing a substitute and without being required to repeat the act. There must therefore be an obligatory substitute for repeating it. Nevertheless, the imams agree that whoever omits