the prayers. No prayer he performs is valid while he remembers the prior obligatory prayer; he must also repeat it if he remembers it while he is praying.”

So consider, dear reader: do you see anything in these words of Imam Ahmad that indicates anything other than what has already been established—that a Muslim does not leave Islam merely by abandoning the prayer, even if he abandons two consecutive months’ prayers? Indeed, he even permitted him to postpone making up some of them in order to seek his livelihood.

In my view, this indicates two things. The first—as previously mentioned—is that he remains a Muslim, even if his liability is not discharged by making up all the missed prayers he owes.

The second is that the ruling on making up prayers is less stringent than the ruling on performing them within their prescribed times. For I do not believe that Imam Ahmad—or even anyone of lesser learning—would permit a person to leave a prayer until its time expires on the excuse of seeking a livelihood. And Allah knows best.

Know, my Muslim brother, that this report from Imam Ahmad—and others conveying the same meaning—is what every Muslim ought to rely upon: first, for its own inherent force; and second, because of Imam Ahmad in particular, in view of his statement, may Allah have mercy on him: “When a hadith is authentic, it is my school of law.” This is especially so because the other positions reported from him, contrary to what has preceded, are extremely inconsistent, as you may see in the book al-Insaf (10/327–328) and other relied-upon works. Moreover, despite their inconsistency, none of them explicitly states that a Muslim becomes a disbeliever merely by abandoning the prayer. Since this is the case, his unqualified reports must be understood in light of the qualified reports that clarify his intent—namely, what has been related above from his son Abdullah.

Even if we were to suppose that there is an explicit report from him declaring mere abandonment to constitute disbelief, it would have to be set aside in favor of the other reports, since they conform to this explicit, authentic hadith concerning the coming forth