Answered by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
I was shown the following hadith, and I wanted to know if it was accurate. The Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him peace) said that if anybody has many prayers to make up and doesn’t know how many make up prayers there are to be made up, then the person can do the following. On Jumu’ah day, before the fard prayer, prays four rak’ahs. After the Fatiha of each of the four rak’ahs, he recites ayatul Kursi 7 times, Surah Kawthar 15 times. If he does this prayer, Allah will forgive him and his parents all of their make-up prayers. At the end of the prayer, he recites durood shareef 100 times, and then he makes a du’ah. (I’m omitting the du’ah, because the du’ah was read to me by my friend in Bangla, and there are bound to be many transliteration / pronunciation mistakes in it). What is the origin of this hadith? The booklet it was read from to me quoted a book called “Fayzul mubtadi,” where this hadith was found. It seems to be a rather popular book among people in Bangladesh , and the idea of having all make-up prayers forgiven through such a simple act seems very questionable (otherwise, why would all the shuyukh command us to make them all up, even if they are years worth of prayers).
Walaikum assalam,
Countless scholars have mentioned that hadiths like the one above are baseless, and that it is obligatory to individually make up each missed obligatory (fard) and necessary (wajib) prayer.
It is sufficient that this is the position of all four sunni schools of law.
Wassalam,
Faraz Rabbani.