Answered by Shaykh Yūsuf Badāt
Question:
What do I do about my missed ṣalahs (prayers) and from what age should I make up all the missed ṣalahs? I started praying properly on a consistent basis a few years ago, but before then I would rarely pray. I would pray some ṣalahs here and there but have no record of the ones I have missed. I do not have an accurate figure of how many ṣalah I have missed. What do I do?
Answer:
بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمنِ الرَّحِيْم
In the name of Allāh, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
Jazāk Allāh Khayr/ Thank you for contacting Mathabah Institute.
Ṣalah becomes mandatory (farḍ) on a believer as soon as they become bāligh (reach puberty). A male’s puberty occurs by nocturnal emission (wet dream/ ejaculation) and a female does by menstruation, which is for both genders around the age of 13 or earlier. – (See: Mukhtaṣar Al-Qudūrī Page 96, Dār Al-Fikr)[1]
Every missed farḍ prayer must be made up. If one is usure of how many prayers they have missed, they should estimate to the best of their ability then make them up. – (See: Tafsīr Al-Qurṭubīy, Vol 11, Page 177, Dār Al-Kutub Al-Miṣrīyyah)[2]
“When any of you forgets a prescribed prayer or oversleeps, they should observe it when they remember it.” – (Mishkāt Al-Maṣābīḥ 604)[3]
Only Allāh knows best.
[1] وبلوغ الغلام الاحتلام والإحبال والإنزال إذا وطئ فإن لم يوجد ذلك فحتى يتم له ثماني عشرة سنة عند أبي حنيفة وبلوغ الجارية بالحيض والاحتلام والحبل فإن لم يوجد ذلك فحتى يتم لها سبع عشرة سنة وقال أبو يوسف ومحمد: إذا تم للغلام والجارية خمس عشرة سنة فقد بلغا – كتاب مختصر القدوري ص ٩٦ دارالفكر
[2] وَرَوَى الدَّارَقُطْنِيُّ عَنْ أَبِي هُرَيْرَةَ رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُ عَنِ النَّبِيِّ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ قَالَ من نَسِيَ صَلَاةً فَوَقْتُهَا إِذَا ذَكَرَهَا فَقَوْلُهُ (فَلْيُصَلِّهَا إِذَا ذَكَرَهَا) دَلِيلٌ عَلَى وُجُوبِ الْقَضَاءِ عَلَى النَّائِمِ وَالْغَافِلِ كَثُرَتِ الصَّلَاةُ أَوْ قَلَّتْ وَهُوَ مَذْهَبُ عَامَّةِ الْعُلَمَاءِ – تفسير القرطبي ج١١/ ص١٧٧ دار الكتب المصرية
[3] فَإِذَا نَسِيَ أَحَدُكُمْ صَلَاةً أَوْ نَامَ عَنْهَا فَلْيُصَلِّهَا إِذَا ذَكَرَهَا – مشكوة المصابيح ٦٠٤