Should the prayers that were performed with ablution while having long fingernails that prevented water from reaching beneath them be made up, due to ignorance of the ruling?
It is part of the fitra (natural disposition) for a Muslim to attend to their nails by trimming and cleaning them. The length of the nails does not prevent water from reaching the skin unless dirt accumulates under them, forming a layer that obstructs water from reaching it. In that case, the dirt becomes a barrier that prevents wudu' (ablution), thus invalidating the prayer. Imam An-Nawawi said: "If wax, dough, or henna prevents water from reaching any part of the limb, then the purification is invalid." The majority of scholars hold the view that it is obligatory to make up for missed prayers that were performed with an incomplete wudu'. However, Sheikh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah is of the opinion that whoever omits a condition or a pillar out of ignorance of the ruling is not obligated to repeat past prayers. Rather, they only need to repeat the prayer of the current time and adhere to it in the future. He does not consider a slight barrier, such as that under the fingernail, as preventing the validity of wudu'.
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