obligatory.

If he performs the prayer after its prescribed time has ended, there are only two possible situations:

1. He has a legitimate excuse—such as ignorance, forgetfulness, or sleep—in which case the prayer is accepted.
   • Ignorance: for example, a person is unaware that the time has both begun and finished. He incurs no sin; he should pray as soon as he learns of it, and it will be accepted because he is excused.
   • Forgetfulness: a person becomes so absorbed in an important task that it occupies and distracts him until the time slips away. He must still offer the prayer, even after the time has passed. The same applies to sleep: someone may go to bed intending to rise at the adhān but sleeps so heavily that he hears neither the call to prayer nor the alarm by his head until the time has expired. He must pray as soon as he wakes up, for the Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—said, “Whoever sleeps through a prayer or forgets it must offer it when he remembers it; there is no expiation for it other than that.”

2. He deliberately postpones the prayer beyond its time without any excuse. The scholars unanimously agree that he is sinful and disobedient to Allah, exalted is He, and to His Messenger, peace and blessings be upon him. Some scholars even held that this constitutes unbelief that removes a person from the fold of Islam—may Allah protect us. While all concur that delaying the prayer without excuse is a grave sin, only a minority declare the doer an unbeliever; the majority—and this is the correct view—say he does not become an unbeliever. They do differ, however, over whether the prayer he offers after intentionally allowing its time to lapse without excuse is accepted. Some say it is accepted—that is,