and the statement of the Shaykh of the North in a pamphlet he wrote on this issue: “The one praying is obliged to do two things: to pray and to perform it within its time. If he neglects one of these two, the other remains.” This reveals a profound ignorance of the Sacred Law. The prescribed time for prayer is not merely an obligation; it is also a condition. Do you not see that if someone were to pray before its time, his prayer would not be accepted, by the unanimous agreement of the scholars?

Yet the poor shaykh’s words show that he has himself contravened their consensus in the statement just cited, for it plainly entails that if someone prayed before the time, he would have fulfilled one obligation while neglecting another!

Thus the common saying applies to him: “Whoever digs a pit for his brother falls into it himself.” He constantly harps on accusing the supporters of the sunnah of violating consensus or the agreement of the scholars, yet here he himself has opposed them with this feeble assertion. May Allah guide both him and us to the straight path.

This, then, is a brief word on this important matter, occasioned by this noble hadith. Whoever wishes to examine it in detail should refer to Ibn al-Qayyim’s Book of Prayer, may Allah Most High have mercy on him, for he has treated the matter exhaustively, with a level of precise investigation not found in any other book.

Know that when the discerning scholars—including al-Izz ibn Abd al-Salam al-Shafi‘i—state that making up a prayer is not prescribed for one who deliberately abandons it, they do not mean to make light of the gravity of abandoning prayer—far be it from Allah. Rather, the very opposite is true. They maintain that part of the grave seriousness of prayer and of performing it within its prescribed time is that it can never be remedied after its time has passed. Thus, nothing can expiate the sin of allowing a prayer to pass beyond its time except that which expiates even the gravest sins: sincere repentance.

For this reason, they advise anyone afflicted with abandoning prayer to repent to Allah at once, to be diligent in performing the prayers at their prescribed times and with the congregation, and to offer abundant voluntary prayers, thereby making up some of the reward he has missed by failing to pray on time: “Indeed, good deeds erase evil deeds.” This is supported by the hadith of Abu Hurayrah: “Examine whether My servant has any voluntary prayers, and complete his obligatory prayer with them.” It was narrated by Abu Dawud and others.