the end of it, and both are permissible. Prayer also contains obligatory elements which the ignorant imagine may never be omitted under any circumstances. They therefore say, “We will perform it after its prescribed time, for that is better than performing it within its prescribed time without those obligatory elements.”

This ignorance has therefore caused the prayer to be missed—the kind of lapse (1) prohibited by consensus. Nor is it permissible to tell someone who has missed it, “There is no blame upon you,” or, “The prayer is no longer required of you.” Whoever says this is a disbeliever. Rather, it must be made clear to him: “You are like one who commits unlawful sexual intercourse or takes a life, and like one who deliberately breaks the fast of Ramadan. You have committed a sin for which no reparation remains that could take its place, for it is a major sin.”

Indeed, Umar ibn al-Khattāb—may Allah be pleased with him—said, “Combining two prayers without an excuse is among the major sins.”

If this is true of combining prayers without an excuse, what then of letting a prayer lapse without an excuse? You must therefore repent and strive to perform righteous deeds beyond merely making it up. Perform many prayers, in the hope that Allah will thereby expiate for you what you missed, though even then you remain in peril. Give charity as well, for one of the Companions was distracted by his garden from the sunset prayer, so he gave his garden away in charity.

When Solomon son of David missed the afternoon prayer because of the horses, he began striking their legs and necks, slaughtering them as expiation for what he had done.

Whoever deliberately lets even one prayer lapse has committed an enormous major sin. He should seek to remedy it with whatever repentance and righteous deeds he can. Even if he makes the prayer up, the mere (2) act of making it up does not remove the sin of what he did, by the consensus of the Muslims.

Those who say, “His make-up prayer is not accepted,” also say, “We instruct him to perform many times that number of prayers, in the hope that Allah may pardon him.”

When they say, “Making it up is not obligatory except through a separate command,” this is because making it up is an alleviation and a mercy, as in the case of the sick person and the traveler during Ramadan. Mercy and alleviation are for those who have an excuse or are incapable, not for