How do you make up a missed salah? Making up the missed prayers in islam…
A) Making Up The Missed Prayers and The Evidence About its Legality
Performing a prayer within its prescribed time limits is called “adā”, and performing it after its time passes is called “qaḍā”. A prayer that cannot be performed within its time limits is called “fāita” and its plural is “fawāit”.
Making up the five obligatory prayers that are not performed on time becomes farḍ, and making up the witr prayer becomes wājib. Only a few types of supererogatory prayers need to be made up when missed. That is, if the sunnah cycles of a dawn prayer along with its farḍ cycles are not performed on time, this sunnah is made up together with the farḍ cycles 50-55 minutes after the sunrise all the way till a little before the noon prayer time. It cannot be made up before mid-morning time or after the meridian time. According to Imam Muhammad, even if this sunnah alone is not performed on time (that is the farḍ cycles were performed), it will still be made up between mid-morning and the time of istiwā. The proof of this is that according to the narration from Abu Hurayra (ra), the Prophet (saw) and his companions stopped on the way while returning from the Khaybar campaign and while they slept they left Bilāl Ḥabashī on guard. However, they could not get up for the dawn prayer because Bilāl, who was exhausted, also fell asleep. After the sun rose, they performed ablution, Bilāl recited the adhān, after performing the two sunnah cycles, he recited the iqāmah and two obligatory cycles of the dawn prayer were performed in the congregation.[1]
On the other hand, if while praying the first four sunnah cycles of the noon prayer is abandoned in order to catch up with the congregation, it is made up after the farḍ cycles, before the last two sunnah cycles. Thus, this sunnah will not be delayed twice (once after the farḍ cycles and once after the last two sunnah cycles) in its time. This is the basis of the preferred view in the Ḥanafi school. However, it can be made up after the last two cycles, and some jurists find the latter way appropriate so that the order of the prayer does not change twice. The first four cycles of the Friday prayer are also performed according to this method of bringing forward or delaying it. There is no need to make up for the other abandoned supererogatory prayers. However, a sunnah that was abandoned for some reason after it has been started or a nafilah prayer that has been invalidated must be made up according to Ḥanafis. For example, if a person who has started the last sunnah of the noon prayer leaves this sunnah in order not to miss a funeral prayer, he or she has to make up for it later.
If a person who performs a ritual prayer with an obstacle, other than an action that will invalidate it, performs it all over again then this is called “iʿādah”. For example, it is wājib to re-perform a prayer performed in a makrūḥ tahriman manner. Moreover, it is mandūb to perform it after the prayer time ends. On the other hand, it is sufficient to complete the deficiency that occurs in the form of delaying a farḍ act, or abandoning or delaying a wājib act by performing the prostration of forgetfulness (sajda as-sahw) at the end of the prayer. If the sajda as-sahw is abandoned, although a bad deed, the prayer is still considered complete.[2]
The ritual prayer without a valid excuse should not be left only so as to be made up later. Allah Almighty says, “But when you are free from danger, re-establish regular prayer. Indeed, prayer has been enjoined upon the believers a decree of specified times.”[3] Furthermore, the sin of leaving the prayer without a valid excuse only to be made up later does not elapse by making that prayer up, it is also necessary to repent for such an action.
In the Qur’an, the punishment for those who do not pray is mentioned as follows, “(They will be) in Gardens (of Delight): they will question each other, And ask of the Sinners: ‘What led you into Hell Fire?’ They will say: ‘We were not of those who prayed; Nor were we of those who fed the indigent.’”[4]
The following is also said about those who do not perform the prayer on time and then make up for it with compensatory prayer and repentance, “But after them there followed a posterity who missed prayers and followed after lusts soon, then, will they face destruction, except those who repent and believe, and work righteousness: for these will enter the Garden and will not be wronged in the least.”[5]
Some hadiths suggest that supererogatory prayers performed outside of the obligatory prayers are included in the context of repentance and good deeds. In a hadith from Abu Hurayra, the following is stated, “Indeed the first deed by which a servant will be called to account on the Day of Resurrection is his ritual prayer. If it is complete, he is successful and saved, but if it is defective, he has failed and lost. So if something is deficient in his obligatory (prayers) then the Lord, Mighty, and Sublime says: ‘Look! Are there any voluntary (prayers) for my worshipper?’ So with them, what was deficient in his obligatory (prayers) will be completed. Then the rest of his deeds will be treated like that.”[6]
In this regard, The following hadith from Ṭalḥa b. Ubaidullah is also remarkable,
“A bedouin with unkempt hair came to Allah’s Messenger (saw) and said, ‘O Allah’s Messenger (saw)! Inform me what Allah has made compulsory for me as regards the prayers.’ He replied, ‘You have to offer perfectly the five compulsory prayers in a day and night (24 hours) unless you want to pray voluntarily.’ The bedouin further asked, ‘Inform me what Allah has made compulsory for me as regards fasting.’ He replied, ‘You have to fast during the whole month of Ramadan unless you want to fast more as supererogatory.’ The bedouin further asked, ‘Tell me how much zakah Allah has enjoined on me.’ Thus, Allah’s Messenger (saw) informed him about all the rules (i.e. fundamentals) of Islam. The bedouin then said, ‘By Him Who has honored you, I will neither perform any supererogatory nor will I decrease what Allah has enjoined on me. Allah’s Messenger (saw) said, ‘If he is saying the truth, he will succeed (i.e. he will be granted Paradise).’”[7]
There is no harm in leaving the ritual prayer to be made up later due to a legitimate excuse. Fear of enemies, prolonged surgery by a doctor, and the midwife’s inability to leave a woman who is given birth can be counted among such valid excuses. As a matter of fact, the Prophet delayed his prayers in the Battle of the Trench. Abdullah Ibn Masʿūd (ra) describes the situation as follows, “The idolaters kept Allah’s Messenger (saw) distracted from four prayers on the Day of al-Khandaq (the battle of the Trench) until as much as Allah willed of the night had passed. So he ordered Bilal to call the adhān, then he called the iqāmah for the ẓuhr prayer, then he called the iqāmah to perform the ʿaṣr prayer, then he called the iqāmah to perform the maghrib prayer, and then he called the iqāmah to perform the ʿishā prayer.”[8]
A person who does not perform the ritual prayer on time because of laziness knowingly becomes a sinner and it becomes wājib upon him or her to make up this prayer. The Prophet said, “If one of you does not perform an obligatory prayer because of sleep or forgetfulness, let him offer it immediately when he remembers it[9] because Allah Almighty has said, ‘and be constant in prayer, so as to remember Me!’”[10] On this topic, Bukhari’s narration from Anas Ibn Malik is as follows, “If anyone forgets a prayer he should perform that prayer as soon as he remembers it. There is no expiation except to pray the same.”[11]
In the hadiths, two excuses are listed as valid excuses for leaving the ritual prayer in its time and making it up later, sleeping, and forgetfulness. However, some scholars concluded that these excuses are very limiting and argued that it is not necessary to make up the prayers in case they are intentionally not performed or due to laziness. They instead maintained that such a person should repent and seek forgiveness. Ibn Ḥaẓm (d. 456/1063), a Zahirite jurist, was of this opinion. The evidence that he relied upon is the principle that when the time requirement disappears, the stipulation attached to time also ceases.[12]
However, the jurists who constitute the majority, including the Ḥanafis, argue that if it is necessary to make up the prayer even for an excuse such as sleep or forgetfulness which is out of the hand of the person, in case of intentionally not performing it must be necessary to make up for it all the more.[13] It is also based on the general meaning of the following hadith, “The debt owed to Allah is worthier to be fulfilled.”[14] It is obligatory and a debt upon a person who deliberately abandons the prayer, and the debt does not cease until it is paid.[15]
A person who misses the prayer due to an excuse such as sleep or forgetfulness does not become a sinner. For it is narrated from Abu Qatada (ra), “The Prophet said to those who complained that they could not perform the prayer due to sleep, ‘There is no negligence when one sleeps, rather negligence is when one is awake. If any one of you forgets a prayer or sleeps and misses it, let him pray it when he remembers it.”[16]
However, it should be the motto of a believer to take precautions to wake up on time in order not to miss the ritual prayer and to be cautious against forgetfulness.
B) Valid Excuses that Discharge The Obligation to Pray
For women, the case of menstruation and postpartum bleeding discharges the obligation to perform the ritual prayer. Aisha (r. anha) said, “The Prophet (saw) did not order women to make up the prayers that they did not perform during their menses, but commanded them only to make up the obligatory fast that they could not observe.”[17] According to the Ḥanafis, in the event of mental illness, fainting, or coma that continues throughout the time of five daily prayers or more, the obligation upon the person to perform those ritual prayers is relinquished.
However, if these conditions continue for five prayer times or less, there may be different situations. If there is enough time left to perform wuḍūʾ and utter the opening takbīr when the person gains consciousness, he has to make up the prayer of that time. As for a person who converts out of Islam and then converts back to Islam, it is not necessary for this person to make up the ritual prayers that he did not perform during his or her apostasy or before the apostasy. The Shafiʿis hold the opposite view and deem it necessary for such a person to make up all the prayers that he or she missed. In contrast, if she or he performed the pilgrimage before the apostasy, then she or he must re-perform it again. Yet, a person who converts to Islam in a non-Muslim country is excused until she or he learns that prayer is obligatory for Muslims. This is because ignorance about religious commands and prohibitions in a non-Muslim country is considered an excuse.[18]
According to the Shafiʿis and the Malikis, a woman in menstruation and puerperium does not pray and does not have to make up for it. If a mental illness, fainting, coma, and the loss of consciousness in a permissible way continuous for one prayer time, it relinquishes the responsibility to perform that prayer. However, a person who becomes drunk intentionally without a valid excuse through something ḥarām, then he or she must make up the prayers that were performed while intoxicated.
C) How to Make up The Prayers that Cannot be Performed on Time
The performance of a missed prayer is carried out exactly the way it is performed in its normal time. For example, a person who misses a four-cycle prayer while on a journey will make it up as two cycles, whether he makes it up on a journey or after returning to his homeland. A person who misses a prayer that must be performed in full in the state of residence will also make up for it in complete cycles regardless if he is at home or on a journey.
The recitation when making up the prayers performed by silent recitation is done silently. If the prayer normally performed aloud is made up in the congregation, it should be performed aloud regardless of when it is made up during the day. If it is made up alone and not in a congregation, then the person who makes it up has the option to choose to perform it aloud or silently.[19]
According to the Shafiʿis and the Ḥanbalis, when making up ritual prayers, the place and time need to be taken into account. A person who is traveling makes up four-cycle prayers as two cycles. The fact that this prayer has been missed while traveling or while in residence does not change the ruling. It is performed in four cycles when it is made in the state of residence. This is because the original ruling in prayers is to perform them in complete form. This is because the state of being on a journey that makes the shortening permissible has disappeared.
Is it necessary to observe a sequence while making up the ritual prayers? If the person who is making up the prayer is called ṣāḥib al-tartīb, then it is necessary to follow the order between the missed ritual prayer and the current ritual prayer. If he is not a ṣāḥib al-tartīb, he can perform other prayers without making up the missed prayer.
For a person to be considered as ṣāḥib al-tartīb, he should not have more than six prayers missed. When the six daily prayers, i.e. including the witr prayer, are missed, the person is no longer considered ṣāḥib al-tartīb. The person who is not a ṣāḥib al-tartīb is no longer required to observe an order between making up the missed prayers, nor between the missed prayers and the daily prayers.
If a ṣāḥib al-tartīb misses a farḍ prayer or the witr prayer, which is wājib according to Abu Ḥanīfa, without an excuse or due to an excuse that does not relinquish the responsibility of the ritual prayer, such as menstruation and post-partum bleeding, he or she must make up the missed prayer before performing the first prayer.
For example, if a ṣāḥib al-tartīb falls asleep during the dawn prayer, he has to make up this prayer before performing the noon prayer of that day. If he performs the noon prayer first, this prayer will be invalid according to Imam Muhammad, since the order is not observed. According to Abu Yusuf, the performed noon prayer ceases to be farḍ and turns into supererogatory. According to Abu Ḥanīfa, it becomes temporarily invalid. In other words, if, after that, he or she performs five more daily prayers without making up the dawn prayer, all of these six times will be valid. However, if he misses the dawn prayer before performing the five daily prayers, his prayers will be invalid and they must be performed again.
If the missed prayers are varied and there is only enough time to perform the time prayer and only some of the missed prayers, according to sound opinion, the obligation to observe the order of the ritual prayers is dropped.
Evidence for the requirement for a ṣāḥib al-tartīb to observe order between the ritual prayers is as follows; When the Messenger of Allah (saw) could not perform the four daily prayers in the Battle of the Trench, he put them in order and performed them before performing the current ritual prayer. Another evidence is the saying of Ibn Umar (r. anhuma), “Whoever among you cannot perform a prayer but remembers it while praying with the imam, let him complete his prayer. After that, let him perform the forgotten prayer and then let him re-perform the prayer that he performed with the imam.”[20]
Three reasons for relinquishing the obligation to observe the order:
a) If the number of missed prayers is six or more, excluding the witr,
b) If the recommended time is not enough to perform both making up the missed prayer and performing the prayer of the time together,
c) Forgetting the missed prayer while performing the current ritual prayer because forgetfulness is a valid excuse.
According to Imam Shafiʿi, it is not necessary to observe the order between the missed prayers and the current prayers, but perhaps it can be considered mustaḥab.
Moreover, when there are many missed prayers, it is not necessary to make an intention by specifying them because there is much difficulty in doing so. For example, it is sufficient to intend to perform the first or the last dawn prayer or the noon prayer that was missed.
If a person does not know how many ritual prayers have been missed, he or she acts according to her or his predominant opinion. If such a decision cannot be made, he or she has to perform the missed prayers until he or she is satisfied that the debt of performing the missed ritual prayers has been paid.
If a person doubts whether he has performed a prayer or not and if the time has not ended yet, he needs to perform it again, and if he doubts after the time ends, nothing further is required. For the allocated time, which is the cause of the farḍ, has ended. A Muslim needs to perform his or her ritual prayer on time.
If the congregational prayer has commenced in the presence of the person performing a missed prayer, he does not attend the congregation until he completes performing the missed prayer.
Making up the missed prayers belonging to the same time can also be performed in the congregation.
It is more appropriate to make up the missed prayers at home. For revealing one’s bad deed may be considered an affront against Allah Almighty and may set a bad example for others.
Missed prayers can be made up at any time during the day other than the three prohibited times. These three prohibited times were determined as follows in a hadith narrated by Uqba Ibn Amir, “There are three times when the Prophet forbade us to pray and to put our deceased in the graves. These are the time of sunrise, the time when the sun is at its zenith, and the time of sunset.”[21]
Other than these three times, even after performing the obligatory cycles of late afternoon and dawn prayers, missed prayers can be made up.
If a woman makes a vow to perform the ritual prayers or fast tomorrow, but she starts to menstruate that day, she has to make up those ritual prayers or fast after her menses ends.
Making up missed prayers is more important than performing supererogatory prayers. However, the sunnah cycles attached to the five daily prayers are exempt from this rule, whether they are mu’akkad or not. In other words, it is not appropriate to abandon these sunnah cycles with the intention to make up missed prayers in their place. On the contrary, it is more appropriate to intend to perform these sunnahs. Even prayers about which there are hadiths, such as the mid-morning prayer and the tahajjud prayer, are upheld within the same principle. It is more appropriate to perform them in this way as nafilah. This is because these sunnah prayers complete the obligatory prayers, and there is no compensation for them at any other time. Since there is no specific time to make up the missed prayers, they can be compensated.
According to the Ḥanafis, it is not appropriate for a person who commits a sin by leaving the obligatory prayer to make it up later, to neglect the sunnahs in order to get rid of that sin. How can it be appropriate for such a person to abandon some of the sunnahs and supererogatory practices that would be instrumental in the manifestation of the Prophet’s (saw) intercession, when he should be seeking refuge in Allah’s forgiveness by worshiping more? Would it not be a twice-over error to leave both the farḍs to be made up later and to isolate the daily prayers from their sunnahs? Therefore, this is the preferred view of the Ḥanafis.
[1] Abū Dawūd, Ṣalāh, 11, Hadith No: 435, 443; al-Nasā’ī, Mawāqīṭ, 54, 55; Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, IV, 444; al-Taḥanāwī, Iʿla al-Sunan, II, 126.[2] See the subject of “the Prostration of Forgetfulness”.[3] Al-Nisā, 4: 103.[4] Al-Muddaththir, 74: 40-44.[5] Maryam, 19: 59-60.[6] Al-Tirmidhī, Ṣalāh, 188; Abū Dawūd, Ṣalāh, 145; al-Nasā’ī, Ṣalāh, 9; Ibn Maja, ‘Iqāmah, 202.[7] Al-Bukhari, Ṣawm, 1; Ḥiyal, 3; al-Nasā’ī, Ṣiyām, 1; al-Darimī, Ṣalāh, 208.[8] Al-Tirmidhī, Ṣalāh, 18; Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, I, 375; Tirmidhi said that there is nothing wrong with the chain of narrators of this hadith. See al-Zaylaī, Naṣb al-Rāya, II, 164-166.[9] Muslim, Masājid, 316; Malik, Muwaṭṭā’, Wuqūṭ, 26; Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, III, 184, 216; See al-Tirmidhī, Ṣalāh, 16; al-Nasā’ī, Mawāqīṭ, 53; Ibn Maja, Ṣalāh, 10.[10] See Ṭa Ha, 20: 14. The addressing in this verse is to the Moses and it is among the speeches on Mount Sinai.[11] Al-Bukhari, Mawāqīṭ, 37; Muslim, Masājid, 314; Abū Dawūd, Ṣalāh, 11; Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal III, 219.[12] Al-Taḥanāwī, Iʿla al-Sunan, VII, 143.[13] See al-Maydanī, ibid, I, 88; al-Shirbinī, Mughni al-Muḥtāj, I, 127; Al-Shirazī, ibid, I, 5; Ibn Qudāmah, Mughnī, II, 108; Ibn Rushd (Averroes), ibid, I, 175; al-Zuhaylī, ibid, II, 130.[14] Al-Bukhari, Ṣawm, 42; Muslim, Ṣiyām, 154, 155.[15] Al-Shawkanī, Nayl, I, 326; al-Taḥanāwī, ibid, VII, 143.[16] Muslim, Masājid, 311; Abū Dawūd, Ṣalāh, 11; al-Tirmidhī, Mawāqīṭ, 16; al-Nasā’ī, Mawāqīṭ, 53.[17] Al-Bukhari, Ḥayḍ, 19, 20; Muslim, Ḥayḍ, 15, 69; al-Tirmidhī, Ṭaḥāra, 93, 97.[18] Ibn Abidīn, ibid, I, 330, 688; Hamdi Döndüren, Delilleriyle İslam Hukuku, Istanbul 1983, p. 142, 143.[19] Ibn al-Humām, ibid, I, 405; al-Maydanī, ibid, I, 110.[20] Al-Zaylaī, ibid, II, 162.[21] Muslim, Misafirīn, 293; Abū Dawūd, Janā’iz, 51; al-Tirmidhī, Janā’iz, 41.
Source: Basic Islamic Principles (ilmiḥal) According to the Four Sunni Schools With Evidence From The Sources of Islamic Law, Prof. Hamdi Döndüren, Erkam Publications