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If there is an obligatory act (fard) that has auxiliary acts (some of which are obligatory, some are Sunnah, and some are permissible), and a person performs these acts with the intention of assisting in the performance of the obligatory act, does the priority of these auxiliary acts (the obligatory, Sunnah, and permissible ones) change compared to their original priority?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

Means are judged by their ends. Thus, that without which an obligation cannot be fulfilled is itself obligatory, and that without which a recommended act cannot be fulfilled is itself recommended. Therefore, a means by which a fard (obligatory act) is performed takes the ruling of a fard, and a means by which a mustahabb (recommended act) is performed takes the ruling of mustahabb, even if the means itself is originally permissible. The fard takes precedence over the mustahabb and the mubah (permissible), and the mustahabb takes precedence over the mubah, though the matter may vary depending on circumstances. Learning the knowledge related to the worship that a Muslim intends to perform should precede it, so that he may be insightful in his worship.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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