Chapter on Explaining What to Begin With in Performing the Obligations
The servant may seek wara' (scrupulous piety) and the supererogatory acts, yet he neglects the obligatory duty while he is heedless of it. And the servant may seek wara' by abandoning the lawful while it is lawful out of caution, when it is not permitted for him to take it. And [he abandons] craftsmanship, trade, and lawful inheritance, intending safety thereby, yet he neglects the dependents, causing them to go hungry and leaving them destitute, and the children become angry with him, and he weakens them, while he is able to earn wealth or engage in lawful work.
Likewise, he abandons the Hajj out of fear that something unlawful may have mixed with his wealth, without knowing anything specific to assist him in that. And likewise, he leaves the town fearing that he might be named in it [i.e., implicated], and his parents become angry with him, and his dependents are left in a weakened state.
He may also neglect the obligatory duty due to whisperings (waswasa) that arise from Satan, abandoning the obligatory act intending to perform it as it was commanded, and out of fear that its performance will not be sound except in that manner—that being what is incumbent upon him, as he supposes. So he multiplies the ablution and prolongs it until the time of the prayer passes, such as the rising of the sun for the dawn prayer, or missing the Friday prayer. And likewise in the ritual bath from major impurity (janāba), or he occupies himself with istibra' (ensuring purity), believing that this is obligatory upon him and that nothing less will suffice, and he continues occupying himself with that until the prayer times pass. Thus he wastes the obligatory duty by seeking to establish the obligatory duty, erroneously and obsessively. And likewise, he occupies himself with repeating the opening takbīr, or he interrupts the prayer before completing it, repeating it several times, or his chest constricts over the takbīr until the prayer times pass. Or he delays the prayer times—such as the afternoon ('Asr) prayer and others—and prays the dawn (Fajr) prayer late, intending thereby to follow someone who interpreted it erroneously, until the time of that prayer passes—the time whose end the Lawgiver established.
Chapter on the Explanation of What One Begins With in Performing the Obligatory Duties
It may occur to a man that something is obligatory in the Book or in the Sunna, yet he has been granted a concession to leave it on account of an excuse that has arisen. It is not permissible for him to undertake it when the excuse applies, yet he undertakes it intending to fulfill the obligation, while he neglects what takes greater priority over it—such as a house seized by usurpation in which there is a wedding feast or a family visit. He enters it without permission, or resides in it, intending thereby to show birr (dutiful kindness), while the kinship tie or the wedding feast may [be such that]
And perhaps he interprets that with the irada (intention) of fulfilling the obligatory right of the Muslims, so he comes to what is reprehensible therein, saying "I do not abandon a right for falsehood," and so he leaves what is more fitting for him and commits what is disliked for him. He was only commanded to fulfill the right through the right, not by neglecting what is more obligatory upon him than that, and this is not permissible for him.
And there may arise for the servant an ailment due to which the performance of the obligatory duty in its [normal] manner is not permissible, were it not for the excuse on account of which he was granted a concession — such as urine that flows continuously, or blood, or [looseness] of the bowels. So he leaves the prayer until its time passes, intending thereby to perform the obligatory duty in a state of purity, and thus he abandons the obligatory duty and neglects it. The scholars of the umma are unanimously agreed that the concession for him is to perform ablution for each prayer and then pray, even if he [continues to] drip. And the Prophet ﷺ commanded the woman suffering istihada (irregular bleeding) with this.
Likewise did ʿUmar, may God be pleased with him, when he was stabbed — his wound was gushing blood — he prayed. And Ibn Thabit — urine flowed from him continuously, so he would perform ablution and pass urine [involuntarily]. (And if one cannot perform the prayer standing, or cannot prostrate on the ground, he leaves the prayer in expectation of well-being until its time passes, or hoping that what afflicts him might lessen — such as headache and the like — until (the prayer) becomes possible for him when it has gone or lessened.) The umma is unanimously agreed that he must pray as best he can, and Abu Bakr was beside him .
even fasting while traveling or during illness until he is unable to pray except sitting or lying down, yet had he broken his fast he would have been able to pray standing.
And he may fast while traveling or during illness until he becomes irritable and agitated, and falls into what is not lawful for him of speech and other things.
And an obligation may be incumbent upon the servant, and he fulfills it out of desire for this world, deeming that this suffices him, and that a duty was upon him and he falls short of it, and covers it and obscures it as though it were a matter that was concealed from him, then he overlooks it, for it is an obligation that his Lord has decreed and we find no [escape from it] — what was obligatory upon him and binding upon him — its recompense. So he spends from his wealth in fulfillment of God's right, Exalted and Glorious, like one who performed a favor for him, or did work for him without a specified wage — like a man who attends to his needs, or a poor woman who nurses for him, or serves his family, or shows them kindness through goodness — he has thus obligated himself to recompense them.
So he gives them from the zakāh (obligatory alms) so that the duty of recompense falls away from him, and perhaps he neglects those who are more deserving than he of receiving it. Or a man fears someone's tongue, or hopes for someone's praise, or seeks someone's favor, so he gives to him and increases for him, while withholding from those who are more in need than him. And God, Exalted and Glorious, says:
«And who gives his wealth to purify himself, and none has with him any favor to be recompensed».
And the Exalted and Glorious said: «And what you give of zakāh, desiring the countenance of God».
Likewise with bequests — one is enjoined to place them in the channels of goodness, such as the wayfarer, the poor, and others.
But he singles out with it those who have done him favors, or those whose protection he is bound to, or those whose tongues he fears, or those whose recompense or praise he hopes for, while neglecting those who are more deserving of it. He thus fails to place it where his companion commanded him, or he defrauds the deceased in his bequest and acts for his own benefit in what the deceased had bequeathed to him.
His desire is to increase for himself after fulfilling what is obligatory upon him. And something may be incumbent upon him, so he fulfills it, yet he greatly neglects what is incumbent upon him, thinking that the increase beyond that is the obligatory duty itself. He makes excuses for that, claiming he has already performed the obligation. Yet he is working only out of desire for this world, like one who has dependents—he earns what sustains them until he has with him enough for days, months, and years. Then when a need arises for him—a relative, or a neighbor whose poverty and hunger he is certain of, or a stranger cut off from others, or a funeral of a kinsman—he says: "The obligatory duty and the fulfillment of what is required takes priority over that," meaning preoccupation with earning for his dependents, or withholding what he has from sharing with those upon whom it is incumbent.
And he said: He has indeed fulfilled what he claimed is incumbent upon him, since he already had with him what suffices them, and he considers that to take priority. Rather, he makes excuses only out of miserliness, or laziness, or he may be ignorant and mistaken. Moreover, the obligation of earning for one's dependents is a matter of scholarly disagreement.
The servant may seek voluntary acts of worship at the expense of neglecting what is obligatory, and fulfilling the obligatory has greater claim upon him. If what he missed was a voluntary matter—such as seeking hadith [prophetic traditions] while neglecting his dependents and relatives—he spends in pursuit of it while neglecting his dependents and relatives, they being poor and unable to do without him. Or he disobeys his parents by leaving their town, or a need arises for her in her town, and he leaves her need unmet, angering her. He goes out early and returns in the evening in pursuit of hadith, angering her. Or he keeps the company, in his pursuit, of someone whom he has been commanded to shun and denounce.