Home > The 40 Hadith of Nawawi > Hadith 9 of Nawawi
Hadith number 9 of the collection of the 40 hadiths of Imam an-Nawawi, in a faithful English translation.
Updated on 10 September 2026 at 2:45 AM
📖 25 min readThis hadith belongs to the collection of the 40 hadiths of Imam an-Nawawi (may Allah have mercy on him), the most studied hadith compilation in the world: foundations of faith, worship and character, all authentic narrations.
"O you who believe! Ask not of things which, disclosed, would vex you."
Al-Ma'ida, 101
This verse is reported by other routes as sent down when they asked the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) about pilgrimage, saying: is it every year? In the two authentic collections, from Anas, may Allah be pleased with him, who said: the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) preached us; a man said: who is my father? He said: "so-and-so." This verse then descended. And in the two also, from Qatada, from Anas, who said: they asked the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) until they wearied him with asking; he became angry, mounted the pulpit, and said: "Ask me not today about anything but I clarify it." A man rose, one who, when men disputed, was called to other than his father; he said: O Messenger of Allah! Who is my father? He said: "your father is Hudhayfa." Then Umar began saying: "We are content with Allah as Lord, Islam as religion, and Muhammad as messenger: we seek refuge with Allah from the fitnas." Qatada, at this hadith, mentioned this verse: "O you who believe! Ask not of things which, disclosed, would vex you." In the Sahih of al-Bukhari, from Ibn Abbas, who said: people asked the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) mockingly: a man said: who is my father? Another said: my she-camel strayed: where is my she-camel? Allah sent down this verse: "O you who believe! Ask not of things which, disclosed, would vex you." Ibn Jarir at-Tabari reports in his tafsir from Abu Hurayra's hadith: the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) went out angry, his face red; he sat upon the pulpit; a man rose to him saying: where am I? He said: "in the Fire." Another rose saying: who is my father? He said: "your father is Hudhayfa." Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, rose and said: "We are content with Allah as Lord, Islam as religion, and Muhammad as prophet, and the Qur'an as imam: we are, O Messenger of Allah, recently of ignorance and association: and Allah knows best our fathers." His anger calmed, and this verse descended: "O you who believe! Ask not of things which, disclosed, would vex you." It is also reported, by al-Awfi's route, from Ibn Abbas, at His word: "O you who believe! Ask not of things which, disclosed, would vex you": the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) called the people saying: O people! "Pilgrimage is prescribed upon you." A man rose saying: O Messenger of Allah! Every year? The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) became intensely angry, saying: "By Him in whose hand is my soul: were I to say yes, it would become obligatory; and were it obligatory you could not, and you would disbelieve: leave me then with what I left you: when I command you a matter, do of it what you can; when I forbid you something, avoid it." Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, then sent down: "O you who believe! Ask not of things which, disclosed, would vex you." He prohibited them asking like what the Christians asked at the table, becoming disbelievers thereby: Allah, the Most High, prohibited that.
These hadiths indicate prohibiting asking what is not needed, whose answer vexes: like asking: am I in the Fire or Paradise? Is my father whom he is ascribed or other? And prohibiting asking obstinately, frivolously, mockingly: as many hypocrites and others did. Near it: asking verses and proposing them obstinately: as the polytheists and People of the Book asked; Ikrima and others said: the verse descended for that. Near it: asking what Allah concealed from His servants, not charging them: like asking the Hour's time, and the spirit. They also indicate prohibiting the Muslims asking much lawful and unlawful feared the asking causes intensification's descent: like asking pilgrimage: every year or not?
Its witnesses: In the authentic collection, from Sa'd (ibn Abi Waqqas, may Allah be pleased with him), from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): "The greatest of the Muslims in sin against the Muslims is whoever asked of a thing not forbidden that became forbidden because of his asking." When the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) was asked of the accursed (li'an), he disliked the questions and censured them, until the asker was tried thereby before occurrence among his people. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) prohibited hearsay, much asking, and squandering wealth.
The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) permitted asking only to the Bedouins and such delegations coming to him: conciliating them thereby. The Emigrants and Ansar dwelling Medina, faith entrenched in their hearts: prohibited asking: in the Sahih of Muslim, from an-Nuwas ibn Sim'an, who said: I resided with the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) in Medina a year: nothing prevented my migrating but asking: when one of us migrated he asked the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) nothing. (He said: I asked him of righteousness and sin; the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "Righteousness is good character. Sin is what scratches in your soul, and you dislike people knowing.") In the same collection also, from Anas, may Allah be pleased with him, who said: we were prohibited asking the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) anything: it pleased us when a sensible desert man came asking, while we listened. In the Musnad, from Abu Umama, who said: Allah had sent down: "O you who believe! Ask not of things which, disclosed, would vex you." We disliked much of his asking and guarded against it when Allah sent down upon His prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): we came to a Bedouin, spread him a cloak, and said: ask the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): and he mentions the hadith. In Abu Ya'la's Musnad, from al-Bara ibn Azib, who said: "Were a year to pass over me intending asking the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) something, I feared him; and we would wish for the Bedouins." In al-Bazzar's Musnad, from Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with both, who said: I saw no people better than Muhammad's companions (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): they asked him only twelve questions, all in the Qur'an: "They ask you about wine and gambling," "They ask you about the sacred month," "And they ask you about the orphans": and he mentions the hadith.
The Prophet's companions (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) sometimes asked him rulings of events before occurrence, to act at occurrence: as when they said: we meet the enemy tomorrow, no knives with us: slaughter with reeds? They asked him of the governors he informed of after, their obedience and fighting. Hudhayfa asked him of the fitnas and what to do in them.
[Return to the hadith:] This hadith, his saying: "leave me with what I left you: those before you perished by their much asking and differing with their prophets" indicates disliking questions and blaming them.
[Was it specific to his time?]: Some people claim that was specific to the Prophet's time (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), fearing then forbidding what was not forbidden, or prescribing what is hard: precluded after his death (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him). But that is not alone disliking questions' cause: another cause exists, Ibn Abbas indicated in his speech we mentioned: "but wait: when the Qur'an descends, you ask nothing but you find its explanation."
The meaning: all the Muslims need in their religion Allah must explain in His noble book, His messenger (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) conveying it: none needs asking after that: Allah, the Most High, knows His servants' interests better than them: what contains their guidance and benefit, Allah, the Most High, must explain unasked, as He said: "Allah explains to you, lest you stray." No need of asking anything then, especially before occurrence, and the need for it. The need is energy of understanding what Allah and His messenger informed, then following and acting thereby. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) was asked a question and referred to the Qur'an: Umar asked him of the kalala; he said: the summer verse suffices you. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) indicated in this hadith that engaging in executing his command and avoiding his prohibition busies from questions, saying: "When I forbid you something, avoid it; when I command you a matter, do of it what you can."
What befalls the Muslim?
What is incumbent upon the Muslim of care and attention: researching what came from Allah and His messenger (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), striving understanding and grasping its meanings, engaging believing it if of scientific matters; if practical: expending capacity striving doing what he can of commands, avoiding the prohibited; his energy wholly directed thereto, not elsewhere.
Thus they were
Such was the state of the Prophet's companions (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and the Followers in excellence in seeking beneficial knowledge from the book and Sunna.
The opposite image
As for the listener's energy, at hearing command and prohibition, directed to suppositions possibly occurring or not: that enters the prohibition, discouraging seriousness in following command.
A man asked Ibn Umar of touching the stone; he said: I saw the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) touch and kiss it. The man said: were I defeated by it? Pushed? Ibn Umar said: "make the 'were' in Yemen": I saw the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) touch and kiss it. At-Tirmidhi reports it.
Ibn Umar's intent: having no concern but emulating the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), no need supposing inability or difficulty before occurrence: it may discourage resolve to follow. Understanding religion and asking knowledge are praised only for deed, not dispute and argument.
Ali, may Allah be pleased with him, mentioned fitnas occurring at time's end; Umar said: when is that, O Ali? He said: when fiqh is taught for other than religion, teaching for other than deed, and the world sought by the Hereafter's deed. Ibn Mas'oud, may Allah be pleased with him, said: "How will you be when a fitna clothes you: the small grows therein, the great collapses, taken as law: the day changed, it is said: blamable?" They said: when is that? He said: "when your trustworthy rarify, your rulers multiply, your jurists rarify, your readers multiply, fiqh taught for other than religion, and the world sought by the Hereafter's deed." Abd ar-Razzaq reports both in his book.
By this meaning many Companions and Followers disliked asking events before occurrence, answering not. Amr ibn Murra said: "Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, went out to the people saying: I shy upon you: ask us not what occurred not: we have in what occurred occupation." Ibn Umar, may Allah be pleased with both, said: "Ask not what occurred not? I heard Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, say: cursed is the asker of what occurred not." Zayd ibn Thabit, asked a thing, said: did it occur? If they said no: he said: leave it until it occurs. Masrouq said: I asked Ubayy ibn Ka'b a thing: he said: did it occur after? I said: no. He said: "leave us (meaning: relieve us) until it occurs; when it occurs: we strive for you an opinion." Ash-Sha'bi said: Ammar was asked a question; he said: did it occur after? They said: no. He said: "leave us then until it occurs: when it occurs we swallow it for you." As-Salt ibn Rashid said: I asked Tawus a thing: he rebuked me saying: did it occur? I said: yes. He said: by Allah? I said: by Allah. He said: our elders informed us that Mu'adh ibn Jabal, may Allah be pleased with him, said: "O people! Hasten not to the misfortune before its descent: it takes you here and here: for were you not hastening to the misfortune before its descent, the Muslims would never lack among them one who, if he speaks, is set right, or says, is aided."
Abu Dawud reports it in the mursal reports book, in raised form, by Ibn Ajlan's route, from Tawus, from Mu'adh ibn Jabal, who said: the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "Hasten not to the affliction before its descent: if you do not, the Muslims will never lack among them one who, when he speaks, is set right or aided; and if you hasten, the ways scatter by you here and here." Its mursal meaning: Tawus heard it from Mu'adh. He reports it too, by Yahya ibn Abi Kathir's narration, from Abu Salama, from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), in meaning, as mursal. Al-Hajjaj ibn Minhal reports: Jarir ibn Hazim informed us: I heard az-Zubayr ibn Sa'id, a man of Banu Hashim, say: our elders informed us the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "There will remain in my community one who, when asked, is set right and guided, until they ask what descended not, its explanation: when they do that, they are taken here and here."
It is reported from as-Sunnabihi, from Mu'awiya, from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), that he prohibited convoluted questions. Imam Ahmad, may Allah have mercy on him, reports it; al-Awza'i interpreted it saying: they are questions' hardenings. Isa ibn Yunus said: it is what is not needed of manner and manner.
From Thawban's hadith, from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): "There will be in my community a people misleading their jurists by questions' coarseness: those are my community's worst." Al-Hasan said: "The worst of Allah's servants are those following the worst of questions, saddening Allah's servants thereby." Al-Awza'i said: "When Allah wills depriving His servant of knowledge's blessing, He casts upon his tongue the sophistries: I saw them the least knowledgeable of people." Ibn Wahb reports from Malik: "I knew this town: they dislike this multiplication people have today," meaning questions. He said also: I heard Malik blaming much speech and fatwa-issuing, then saying: he speaks like an unbridled camel saying: it is thus, it is thus, rambling in speech. He said: I heard Malik disliking answering much questions, saying: Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, said: "And they ask you of the spirit: say: the spirit is of my Lord's affair": no answer coming. Malik disliked also disputing over Sunnas. Al-Haytham ibn Jamil said: I said to Malik: O Abu Abd Allah! A man knowledgeable of Sunnas: does he dispute over them? He said: "no, but he informs of the Sunna: accepted of him, or else silent." Ishaq ibn Isa said: "Malik said: claim and dispute in knowledge carry knowledge's light from man's heart." Ibn Wahb said: "I heard Malik say: claim in knowledge hardens hearts and bequeaths rancor." Abu Sharih al-Iskandarani was one day in his session: questions multiplied; he said: "I have ruined your hearts since today: rise to Abu Hamid: Khalid ibn Hamid: polish your hearts, learn these supererogatory deeds: they renew worship, bequeath asceticism, warm friendship; rarefy questions except what descended: they harden hearts, bequeath enmity." Al-Maymuni said: "I heard Abu Abd Allah, meaning Ahmad, asked a question, saying: did this question occur? Will you be tried by it after?"
People in this chapter divided into kinds. Some followers of the hadith folk closed questions' door: their fiqh and knowledge scarce within what Allah sent down upon His messenger: becoming fiqh-bearer, not jurist. Some jurists of the opinion folk widened generating questions before occurrence, whether customary or not, engaging forcing answers, many disputes and argumentation, until hearts' division births, desires, rancor, enmity and hatred settling thereby, often joined with dominating intent, seeking loftiness and boasting, diverting people's faces. The lordly scholars blamed it, and the Sunna indicated its ugliness and unlawfulness.
As for the hadith folk's jurists acting by it: most of their concern is searching the meanings of Allah's book, the Mighty and Majestic, and the correct Sunnas explaining it, the Companions' and Followers' speech in excellence, upon the Prophet's sunna (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), knowing its sound and false; then fiqh therein, understanding it and grasping its meanings; then knowing the Companions' and Followers' speech in excellence in the sciences' kinds: tafsir, hadith, lawful-unlawful questions, the Sunna's roots, asceticism and heart-foods, and other. This is Imam Ahmad's path and whoever followed him of the hadith's lordly scholars.
Knowing this, one is busied from what people innovated of opinion profiting not and occurring not: bequeathing dispute, argumentation, much hearsay.
Said of it
Imam Ahmad, often asked of generated questions not occurring, said: "Leave us of these new questions." Yunus ibn Sulayman as-Saqati said most beautifully: "I considered the matter: it is hadith and opinion: I found in hadith the mention of the Lord, the Mighty and Majestic, His lordship, majesty and greatness, the Throne's mention, Paradise and Fire's description, the prophets' and messengers' mention, lawful and unlawful, kin-maintenance's urging, and goodness's gathering therein. I considered opinion: it has the blameworthy, treachery, ruses, kinship's severing, and evil's gathering therein." Ahmad ibn Shabbuwaya said: "Whoever wants the grave's science: upon him the reports; whoever wants the bakery's science: upon him opinion." Whoever follows the knowledge-seeking way as we mentioned can understand the occurring events' answer mostly: their roots exist in those indicated roots.
Practicing this way must be behind its people's imams consensual on their guidance and discernment: like al-Shafi'i, Ahmad, Ishaq, Abu Ubayd, and whoever took their way: whoever claims practicing this way besides their way falls into deserts and perils, taking what may not be taken, leaving what must be done.
The pivot of the whole matter: intending thereby Allah's face, the Mighty and Majestic, drawing near Him by knowing what He sent down upon His messenger, following his way, acting thereby, calling creation to him. Whoever is so: Allah supports him, sets him right, inspires his uprightness, teaches him what he knew not: he is of the praised scholars in the book, at His word:
"Of His servants, only the scholars fear Allah."
Fatir, 28
and of the firmly rooted in knowledge.
Ibn Abi Hatim reports in his tafsir from Abu al-Darda's hadith, may Allah be pleased with him: the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) was asked of the firmly rooted in knowledge; he said: "Whoever's right hand is righteous, tongue truthful, heart upright, and chaste of belly and private: he is of the firmly rooted in knowledge." Nafi' ibn Zayd said: it is said: the firmly rooted in knowledge: the humble to Allah, submissive to Allah in His pleasure, exalting not those above, belittling not those below. The Prophet's word (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) witnesses it: "Yemen's people came to you: most righteous of hearts, most tender of souls: faith is Yemeni, fiqh Yemeni, and wisdom Yemeni." It alludes to Abu Musa al-Ash'ari and whoever upon his way of Yemen's people's scholars, then to like Abu Muslim al-Khawlani, Uways al-Qarani, Tawus, Wahb ibn Munabbih and other Yemen's people's scholars: all lordly scholars fearing Allah: all scholars of Allah, fearing and dreading Him. Some are vaster in knowledge of Allah's rulings and His religion's laws than some, their distinction to people not by much hearsay, research or dispute. Likewise Mu'adh ibn Jabal, may Allah be pleased with him: the most knowledgeable of people of lawful and unlawful: he who will be resurrected on the Resurrection Day before the scholars, a step. His knowledge was not by widening questions and multiplying them: his disliking speech of what occurs not preceded: he was a scholar of Allah and of his religion's roots, may Allah be pleased with him. It was said to Imam Ahmad: "Whom do we ask after you?" He said: "Abd al-Wahhab al-Warraq." It was said: he has knowledge's breadth? He said: "he is a righteous man, like him, granted attaining truth." He was asked of Ma'ruf al-Karkhi; he said: "he had with him knowledge's root: Allah's fear?!" This returns to some predecessors' saying: "Allah's fear suffices as knowledge, and presuming upon Allah suffices as ignorance." This chapter is vast, long in examination.
Let us return to Abu Hurayra's hadith's commentary, may Allah be pleased with him, saying: whoever engages not much questions having no like in Allah's book nor His messenger's sunna (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), but engages understanding Allah's and His messenger's speech, intending executing commands and avoiding prohibitions: he is of those who executed the Messenger of Allah's command (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) in this hadith, acting upon its requirement. Whoever's attention is not understanding what Allah sent down upon His messenger, engaging much generating questions possibly occurring or not, forcing answers by mere opinion: feared contravening this hadith, committing its prohibition, abandoning its command.
Know that the multiplicity of events occurring having no root in the book and Sunna comes from abandoning engaging executing Allah's and His messenger's commands, avoiding their prohibitions: whoever intends doing a deed asked what Allah legislated in that deed, executing it, and what He prohibited therein, avoiding: events would occur confined to book and Sunna. The actor rather acts by his opinion and desire's requirement: most events occur contradicting what Allah legislated, their return to the rules mentioned in book and Sunna perhaps hard, for their distance from them.
In sum: whoever executes what the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) commanded in this hadith, abstains from his prohibition, busied thereby from other: salvation in the world and Hereafter attains him. Whoever contravenes, engaging his thoughts and deemed-good: falls in what the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) warned: the People of the Book's state perishing by much questions, differing with their prophets, lacking submission and obeying their messengers.
His saying (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): "When I forbid you something, avoid it; when I command you a matter, do of it what you can." Some scholars say: taken thereby that prohibition is harder than command: prohibition permitted committing no part, command limited by capacity. Reported from Imam Ahmad, may Allah have mercy on him. Like some saying: "Righteousness' deeds the righteous and wicked do; disobediences none leaves but the sincere." Abu Hurayra, may Allah be pleased with him, is reported from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), saying to him: "Fear the prohibited: you will be the people's most worshipful." Aisha, may Allah be pleased with her, said: "Whoever delights preceding the toiling perserverers: restrain sins." Reported from her in raised form. Al-Hasan said: "The worshippers worshipped not by anything better than leaving what Allah prohibited them."
The apparent: what came preferring avoiding prohibitions over obedience deeds intends the supererogatories: otherwise, obligatory deeds' kind is more demonstrative than avoiding prohibitions': deeds intended per se, prohibited: their non-being sought: hence needing no intention unlike deeds: hence leaving deeds' kind may be disbelief, like leaving oneness, or Islam's pillars or some, as preceded: unlike committing the prohibited: requiring not disbelief by itself. Ibn Umar's word, may Allah be pleased with both, witnesses: "Returning a carat of unlawful is better than a hundred thousand spent in Allah's path." Of some predecessors: "Leaving a carat Allah hates is dearer to Allah than five hundred pilgrimages." Maymun ibn Mihran said: "Allah's mention by the tongue is good; better: the servant mentioning Allah at disobedience and withholding." Ibn al-Mubarak said: "Returning a dubious dirham is dearer to me than charity of a hundred thousand and a hundred thousand, reaching six hundred thousand." Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz said: "Piety is not night-standing, day-fasting, combining the two?! Piety is fulfilling what Allah prescribed, leaving what Allah prohibited: though with that a deed: good toward good." Or as he said. He said also: "I wish praying none but the five prayers except the prescribed night prayer; giving zakat, no dirham charity after; fasting Ramadan, never fasting a day after; performing Islam's pilgrimage, never after; then directing my sustenance's surplus to what Allah prohibited me, withholding." Their speech's gist indicates avoiding prohibitions, though few, better than multiplying obedience's supererogatories: that obligatory, this supererogatory.
Some later generations said: the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said "when I forbid you something, avoid it; when I command you a matter, do of it what you can" because executing command comes only by deed, deed's existence depending on conditions and causes, some unattainable: command limited by capacity, as Allah limited piety's command by capacity: Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, said: "So fear Allah as much as you can." Of pilgrimage: "Pilgrimage of the House is due upon people, for Allah, whoever finds a way." As for prohibition: its non-being sought, the origin: the aim is original non-being's permanence: possible, no unattainable therein. This too has observation: the disobedience-caller may be strong, no patience with the servant abstaining with capacity: withholding then needs intense striving, sometimes harder upon souls than mere striving to obedience deeds: hence many exist striving obedience deeds, unable leaving prohibitions. Umar was asked of a people desiring disobedience, acting not: he said: "Those are a people Allah tried their hearts for piety: forgiveness and great reward theirs." Yazid ibn Maysara said: Allah says in some books: "O young man who left your desire, struggling in your youth for Me: you are with Me like some of My angels." He said: "How hard desire in the body! Like fire's burning: how shall the indwellers escape?"
The verification herein: Allah charges not the servants of deeds beyond their capacity: He suspended many deeds by mere hardship, leniency toward them, mercy for them. As for prohibitions: none excused committing them by the caller's strength and desires: charged leaving them at all events: He permitted taking prohibited foods only by necessity for remaining life, not enjoyment and desire.
Hence is known the truth of Imam Ahmad's saying, may Allah have mercy on him: "prohibition is harder than command."
Reported from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), from Thawban's and others' hadith, that he said: "Be upright: you will not be counted." Meaning: unable of complete uprightness. Al-Hakam ibn Hazn al-Kalbi reports: I came to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), attending Friday with him: the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) rose, leaning on a staff or bow; he praised Allah and commended Him with light, good, blessed words, then said: "O people! You will not bear nor do all I command you; but be upright, and be glad." Imam Ahmad and Abu Dawud report it. His saying "when I command you a matter, do of it what you can": proof whoever is unable of the commanded's whole, able of part: comes by what he can. Uniform in questions: of them: purification: able of part, unable the rest, by no water or sickness in some limbs: does what he can, tayammum for the rest. Ablution and major ablution alike, the famous view. Of them: prayer: unable standing prays sitting; unable: lying. In the Sahih of al-Bukhari, from Imran ibn Husayn, may Allah be pleased with him, that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "Pray standing: if you cannot: sitting; if you cannot: on the side." Unable all: points by sight, intends: prayer lapses not, the famous view. Of them: breaking-fast zakat: able of part of the sa': obligatory upon him, the correct. Fasting part of day without completion: not obligatory without disagreement: partial fasting is no devotion in itself. Likewise partial neck-freedom in expiation: not obligatory: fractionating freedom disliked by the Lawgiver, completion commanded by every way. Missing Arafah's standing in pilgrimage: does he do its remainder: Muzdalifa's night, stone-casting? Or confines to circumambulation and course, releasing by umra? Two narrations of Ahmad, the more famous: confining to circumambulation and course: for the House and casting are Arafah's standing's consequences: Allah, the Most High, commanded His mention at the sacred mount and in the counted days to whoever flowed from Arafat: whoever stood not at Arafat commanded not, like the umra pilgrim resident: and Allah knows best.