Answered by Shaykh Abdul-Karim Yahya, SunniPath Academy Teacher
I am a new Muslimah and am training as a pediatric nurse in the UK, I am aware that it may at times be difficult for me to leave the ward to do my prayers, but am planning to leave my Zuhr prayer until the end time and then pray Asr after it in order to complete Maghrib later in the day at its proper time. I have not spoken to my ward manager about this yet but would like to know, if what I described above is permissible and also, if I am unable to pray on time everyday due to unforeseeable circumstances (which may occur in a hospital ward environment) am I able to make these prayers up when possible and will they be accepted?
In The Name of Allah, Most Compassionate and Merciful
May Allah keep you, us, and all Muslims firm on His religion. May Allah reward you for your desire to properly perform your five daily prayers. After faith itself, prayer is the most important act of service to Allah. May Allah also bless you to complete your training in nursing.
Our advice is that you sincerely intend by your training to fulfill a communal obligation, so that your training itself becomes an act by which you serve Allah and draw nearer to Him, Most High. This will also help you put some of the other advice we give into perspective.
To answer your question, it is permissible to delay your noon prayer (zuhr) until the end of its time provided that enough time remains to perform all of the integrals of the prayer on time. It is forbidden to delay it past this point. It is also permissible to make the midafternoon prayer (”asr) at the beginning of its time, but not before.
As for delaying prayers past their appointed times, our imams mention that there is generally no excuse for this, except forgetfulness or sleeping through a prayer. However there are some exceptions to this, such as saving a human from harm or death. In this case it is obligatory to delay the prayer.1
If the unforeseen circumstances you mentioned are of this magnitude, and these circumstances last until the prayer time has expired, then one must delay the prayer for them, otherwise it is not permissible to delay it. Then if one misses a prayer it is obligatory to make it up. If it was missed without a valid excuse it must be made up immediately, otherwise it is recommended to make it up immediately.
We realize that this might pose a difficulty when working in a hospital ward in a non-Muslim country. Our advice is to endeavor to truly make the aim of your training, and every thing else you do, to draw nearer to Allah, Most High. Then apparently difficult things, such as this, become much easier.
One says: “I am doing this to draw nearer to my beloved Lord, and He has ordered me to pray, so how can I do something to draw nearer to Him in a way that causes me to disobey and displease Him?” If you approach this question in this light you will strive your utmost, even if some sacrifice is necessary, to do what is most pleasing to Allah.
Having said that, if there is no way for you to make all your prayers in a way that is acceptable in the Shafi”i School, we would advise you to look for a dispensation in another school. You might begin by looking in the Maliki and Hanbali schools. Normally we might not advise this, but what you are learning fulfills a communal obligation for the Muslims.
So if you seek a dispensation in this question, do not do so because you have a personal ambition to be a nurse, or because the pay is good. Do so because you have a mission of trying to fulfill a communal obligation for the Muslims and a necessary detail of this is adjusting to the environment of a modern hospital, which is the only avenue available for you to learn this skill. And Allah knows best and He alone gives success (tawfiq).
1. See Ibn Hajar al-Haytami, Hawashi al-Sharwani Wa Ibn Qasim al-Abbadi ”Ala Tuhfah al-Muhtaj Bisharh al-Minhaj (Beruit, Dar Ihya” al-Turath al-”Arabi), 1:431.