and said, “Go back and pray, for you have not prayed.” So the man went back and prayed, yet in the very same manner as before. He then returned to the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—who returned his greeting and again said, “Go back and pray, for you have not prayed.” The man replied, “By Him who sent you with the truth, I know no way other than this, so teach me.”

Herein lies the benefit of the Prophet’s choice not to instruct him the first time: by sending him back until he had prayed three times, he stirred the man’s appetite for knowledge so that he yearned for it, and when the knowledge finally came it was like rain falling on parched earth that eagerly drinks it in. For that reason the man swore that he knew no better than what he had done and asked the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—to teach him.

Of course the Prophet would teach him, but there is a difference between knowledge that is merely offered and knowledge that is deliberately sought. When a person himself asks to learn, he becomes more devoted to and protective of what is imparted to him. Notice how the man swore by saying, “By Him who sent you with the truth,” rather than simply saying, “By Allah,” so as to declare, in the strongest possible terms, that whatever the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—says is the very truth.

The Prophet then said to him, “When you stand for prayer, perfect the wudu (ablution); then face the qiblah and pronounce the takbir”—that is, say “Allahu akbar,” which is the opening takbir—“then recite whatever is easy for you from the Quran.” The Sunnah makes clear that al-Fatiḥah must be recited. “Then bow until you are at ease in bowing; then rise until you are at ease standing,” meaning that when you rise from bowing you should be as composed as you were while bowing. Thus it is Sunnah for the bowing and the standing that follows to be equal or nearly equal in duration. “Then prostrate until you are at ease in prostration; then rise until you are at ease sitting”—this is the sitting between