Home » Hanafi Fiqh » Qibla.com » About Making Up Missed Prayers & Sticking To Confirmed Sunnas

About Making Up Missed Prayers & Sticking To Confirmed Sunnas

Answered as per Hanafi Fiqh by Qibla.com

Answered by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

My issue is missed prayers. Only for the past 2 years have I been extremely particular about praying all 5 times a day without missing. Alhamdulillah, that has not been a problem, and if I ever missed a prayer by oversleeping, I would make it up right away. Unfortunately, for the 5 years before that, I was not particular. I know I will be held accountable for those 5 years of prayers. I did pray more often than not, but I think it would be safe for me to just make all 5 years worth of prayers.
 
I’ve heard different opinions on how I should go about making up these prayers. A Shafi’i friend told me that instead of doing Sunnah prayers for each prayer, I should just do the Fard and Qadha. I’ve always been told by family that some Sunnah prayers are Sunnat-e-Mu’akkadah, which means you have to pray them. (ie. Fajr = 2 Sunnah before, Dhuhr = 4 before, 2 after, Maghrib = 2 after, Ishaa = 2 after). I am usually at school all day, and I barely have enough time to pray my regular prayers, let alone Qadha. I know Shafis don’t view the Sunnah prayers as importantly as Hanafis do. My question on this ruling is that is it okay for Hanafis to skip the Sunnah and pray Qadha instead, or must I pray the Sunnah?
 
Another opinion I have heard was also from a Shafi’i. My aunt has missed many years of praying, probably 15-20 years. She did pray, but was not particular. Alhamdulillah, she has been particular for the past 10 years. She feels greatly overwhelmed by the responsibility of making up so many years of praying. When she asked about this, the reply she got was that since she was a ‘born again’ Muslim, and has repented sincerely about missing prayers and now does pray every prayer, then it is forgiven and she does not need to make it up. She related it to how new Muslims are not accountable for previous actions. How justified is this opinion, and is it okay for Hanafis? I have read that if you did not know that something was Fard, and then found out, then you wouldn’t have to make it up. Both my aunt and I knew that praying was Fard before, but since we were not into deen much, we weren’t particular. After we became more into deen and started hijaab, we then became particular.

Answer:
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful

The position of all four schools of Sunni law is that it is obligatory (fard) to make up all missed prayers, regardless of why they were missed. And prayer is the first thing we will be questioned about on the Day of Judgement, as the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) informed us.

The position held by some contemporary modernists about not having to make up missed prayers is a deviant (shadhdh) position that is absolutely unacceptable. For details, check Reliance of the Traveller, which is a book every Sunni household should have. Even for non-Shafi`is, its appendices on holding one’s tongue, the Gabriel Hadith, our belief in Allah and His Messenger, a pure heart, the major sins, and numerous discussions of issues relevant to Muslims in troubled times are required reading. With this, one should read the articles on Sidi Mas’ud Khan’s excellent website, http://www.masud.co.uk.

The Confirmed Sunnas

According to the Hanafi school, one would still have to stick to one’s confirmed sunna prayers (sunna mu’akkadas)[1], because they remain strongly enjoined such that missing them even once without excuse is blameworthy, and making this a habit is sinful. [Ibn Abidin, Hashiya]

One’s missed prayers are a debt owed to Allah. As such, the first step is to repent, by resolving not to willfully miss any more prayers, feeling remorse, seeking Allah’s forgiveness, and resolving to make them up. This resolve, to be true, needs proof. As such, one must make up one’s prayers as quickly as reasonably possible. The way to do this is to develop a routine whereby one makes up a given amount of prayers (such as 3, 4 or 5 days of prayers, or more) every day, without exception. And one should not forget that Allah Most High has told us in a Hadith Qudsi, “My servant draws near to Me by nothing more beloved to Me than that which I have made obligatory upon him.”

The Aunt

As for the Aunt who did not pray for a long time, if she just won’t pray her sunnas and perform her makeup prayers, then tell her to pray one or two makeup prayers (or as much as she will be able to keep up with, long term) with each current obligatory prayer, with the repentance mentioned above. This way, she will at least be repaying her debt to Allah in some way. She, too, should remember that Allah Most High has told us in a Hadith Qudsi, “My servant draws near to Me by nothing more beloved to Me than that which I have made obligatory upon him.” As such, she should keep in mind that there is nothing more pleasing to Allah than for her to make up her missed obligatory prayers.

May Allah give us success to follow the ways most pleasing to Him.

Wassalam,
Faraz Rabbani.

[BTW: You may find many answers that are useful in this mailing list’s repository of past messages, http://www.sunnipath.com; you can browse through the old messages, or do a word search.]

[1] The confirmed sunna prayers are: 2 rakats before the Fajr prayer, 4 before the Zuhr prayer and 2 after it; 2 after Maghrib; and 2 after Isha. Witr [=3 rakats, prayed like maghrib, but with recitation after the Fatiha in the last rakat, after which one says Allahu Akbar and makes a short dua before bowing] is necessary (wajib) and cannot be missed.

This answer was indexed from Qibla.com, which used to have a repository of Islamic Q&A answered by various scholars. The website is no longer in existence. It has now been transformed into a learning portal with paid Islamic course offering under the brand of Kiflayn.