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What is the ruling on the fasting and prayer of one who was ignorant of ghusl and its method at the beginning of their puberty, and does the ruling differ between one who was ignorant due to negligence and one who was ignorant due to a deficiency in understanding?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

The summary of the fatwa is that purity from janabah is not a condition for the validity of fasting. As for prayer:

- If you knew the obligation of ghusl and were negligent or fell short in asking about the method of ghusl, then you must make up the prayers that have passed.

- However, if you were ignorant of the obligation of ghusl for prayer in the first place, or you knew of the obligation but assumed a method that turned out to be incorrect, then you are not required to make up past acts of worship performed before knowing the ruling. This is the view of Ibn Taymiyyah and those who agreed with him.

- If you wish to be cautious, in accordance with the opinion of the majority regarding making up prayers, then follow what we advised in the fatwa referenced above.

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

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