his prayer, because he has come back to his senses and right judgment; and, they say, since the forgetful person’s prayer is accepted after the time has passed, the same should apply to the one who delayed it deliberately. The sound position, however—confirmed by textual evidence—is that the prayer of anyone who postpones it beyond its time without excuse is not accepted, even if he were to repeat it a thousand times. The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, declared: “Whoever performs an act that is not in accordance with our affair, it is rejected.” Rejected means turned back—unaccepted—by Allah. When someone intentionally performs the prayer after its time, he is praying contrary to the command of Allah and His Messenger, so it will not be accepted from him.

The person who has a valid excuse remains excused; for that reason, the Lawgiver ordered him to offer the prayer as soon as his excuse disappears. As for the one with no excuse, even if he were to go on praying for the rest of his life, that particular prayer which he missed without excuse would still not be accepted. What he must do is repent to Allah, reform himself, increase in righteous deeds, and seek much forgiveness, for “whoever repents, Allah accepts his repentance.”

The second condition for establishing the prayer is purification: no prayer is accepted without ritual purity. The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “The prayer of any one of you will not be accepted if he invalidates his ablution until he performs a new ablution.” Therefore, a person must observe purification in the manner prescribed. If he enters a minor state of impurity—such as urinating, defecating, passing wind, sleeping, or eating camel meat—he must renew his ablution.