Answered by Shaykh Hamza Karamali, SunniPath Academy Teacher
asalamu alakum
unfortunately i have years of missed prayers which i intend to make up the thing is i dont know exactly how many i missed how is someone to determine how many prayers they have missed im a little confused?
In the Name of Allah, Most Merciful and Compassionate
wa `alaykum as salam wa rahmatullah wa barakatuh
Allah Most High says in a famous hadith qudsi, “My servant does not draw close to Me with anything more beloved to Me than what I have made obligatory on him.” (Bukhari) Your resolve to make up the prayers that you owe to Allah Most High is therefore a resolve to draw closer to Him in one of best possible ways. May Allah strengthen your resolve and bring it to completion.
The answer to your question is that you must make a conservative estimate of how many prayers you missed such that you reach certainty of having made up all prayers that you might possibly have missed. So, for example, if you think that you missed about one month’s worth of prayers, give or take a little, but you are sure that you couldn’t have missed more than one and a half month’s worth of prayers, then you would have to make up one and half month’s worth of prayers to ensure that you make up every prayer that you could possibly have missed.
And Allah Most High knows best.
Hamza.