Section: If a mujtahid begins his prayer based on his ijtihad and then becomes blind during it, he continues based on what has already passed of his prayer, because he is able to build upon the ijtihad of another, so [the ijtihad of his own self] is more appropriate. If he turns away from that direction, his prayer is void. If someone informs him of his error with certainty, he returns to that. If he informs him based on ijtihad, he does not return to it, for the reason we mentioned. If he begins the prayer while blind and then gains sight during it and observes something that leads him to believe his own ijtihad is correct—such as seeing the sun in his direction of prayer during the Dhuhr prayer and the like—he continues on that, because the two ijtihads have coincided. If it becomes clear to him that he is in error, he turns toward the direction his ijtihad led him and builds upon what has passed of his prayer. If neither his correctness nor his error is made clear to him, his prayer is void, and he must perform ijtihad, because his obligation is ijtihad, so it is not permissible for him to fulfill his obligation through taqlid, just as if he were sighted at the start of it. If he were a muqallid, he continues his prayer, because he has no means other than the proof with which he began it.

137 - Issue: He said: (And if he prays through ijtihad toward a direction, then learns that he has missed the Qibla, he is not required to repeat it.)

The total of this is that when a mujtahid prays through his ijtihad toward a direction and it then becomes clear to him that he prayed toward a direction other than that of the Kaaba with certainty, he is not required to repeat it. The same applies to the muqallid who prayed through his taqlid. This is the opinion of Malik and Abu Hanifa, as well as one of the two opinions of al-Shafi'i. He said in the other: He is required to repeat it, because it has become clear to him that there was an error in one of the conditions of the prayer, so he is required to repeat it, just as if it became clear to him that he had prayed before the time or without purification or covering. Our evidence is what Amir ibn Rabi'a narrated from his father, who said: "We were with the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, on a journey on a dark night and did not know where the Qibla was, so every man prayed in his own direction. When morning came, we mentioned that to the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, and it was revealed: