the prayer; his prayer is not valid if he remembers the previous obligatory prayer before it, so he must repeat it if he remembers it while in prayer." So consider, dear reader! Do you see in this statement of Imām Aḥmad anything but what confirms what was previously established; that a Muslim does not leave Islam merely by abandoning prayer; rather, [it is about] the prayers of two consecutive months! Moreover, he was allowed to delay making up some of them for the sake of seeking livelihood. This, in my view, indicates two things: the first - which was mentioned before - is that he remains in his Islam, even if his liability is not cleared by making up all the missed prayers. The second: that the ruling on making up prayers is different from the ruling on performing them on time; because I do not believe that Imām Aḥmad - nor anyone with less knowledge than him - would permit delaying prayer until its time has passed due to the excuse of seeking livelihood. And Allāh knows best. And know, my Muslim brother! that this narration from Imām Aḥmad - and those similar to it - is what every Muslim should rely upon for himself first; and specifically for Imām Aḥmad second; because he said: "If the ḥadīth is authentic, then it is my madhhab." Especially since the other statements reported from him, contrary to what was previously mentioned, are very inconsistent; as you see in the book "al-Inṣāf" (10/327-328) and other reliable books; and despite their inconsistency; none of them explicitly state that a Muslim becomes an unbeliever merely by abandoning prayer; and since this is the case, the unrestricted narrations from him must be interpreted in light of the restricted and explanatory narrations of his intent; which is what was previously transmitted from his son ʿAbdullāh. And if we assume that there is an explicit narration from him regarding declaring disbelief merely by abandonment; it must be disregarded in favor of the other narrations; as they align with this authentic and explicit ḥadīth regarding the departure..