بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
Ibn Hazm said: It has been reported from ‘Umar, Abdur-Rahmān ibn ‘Awf, Mu’ādh ibn Jabal, Abū Hurayrah, and others among the Companions (may Allāh be pleased with them) that whoever deliberately misses a single obligatory prayer until its time ceases is a disbeliever and an apostate. (al-Muhallā 2/15)
The first question of Fatwā no. 6196 (Part 6/10-11)
Q: Allāh has guided me to obey Him. I offer the daily prayers on time except for Fajr (Dawn). Sometimes I get up late after sunrise. Is my Fajr Prayer offered at that time valid? How can a Muslim make up for the Salāh he missed like the ‘Asr Prayer? Will he make up for it at the time of the Maghrib Prayer or delay it until the next ‘Asr Prayer?
A: The Salāh you miss due to sleep or forgetfulness should be offered the moment you wake up or the moment you remember. It does not matter if you wake up or remember it after sunrise. This is based on the Hadīth in which the Prophet (ﷺ) said: “He who misses a prayer because he sleeps or forgets it should offer it when he remembers it, there is no expiation for it, except this.”
As for the Salāh you intentionally abandoned while believing in it being obligatory, the most sound of the two views held by scholars is that such an act constitutes major Kufr (disbelief).
You should not make up for it, but you have to repent, regret it, and ask Allāh’s forgiveness for abandoning it. You should observe the five daily prayers regularly. This is based on the Hadīth in which the Prophet (ﷺ) said: “That which differentiates us from the disbelievers and hypocrites is our performance of Salāh, He who abandons it, becomes a disbeliever.”
Another Hadīth states: “What makes one a disbeliever and a polytheist is abandoning prayers.”
May Allāh grant us success! May peace and blessings be upon our Prophet Muhammad, his family, and Companions!
Permanent Committee for Scholarly Research and Ifta’
Member: Abdullāh ibn Qa’ūd
Deputy Chairman: ‘Abdul-Razzāq ‘Afifī
Chairman: ‘Abdul-Azīz ibn Abdullāh ibn Bāz
Al-Albānī said: Whoever deliberately allows a prayer to lapse past its prescribed time without intending to combine it with another prayer is not legislated to make it up, nor is he ever excused for this action. This is because if a person who forgets a prayer or sleeps through it—both of whom are excused according to the Sharī’ah—is only required to perform it immediately upon remembering it – which becomes its (prescribed) time – then where is the (prescribed) time for someone who left it intentionally?
[TN: Ibn al-Qayyim said: The excused individual, due to sleep or forgetfulness, does not pray outside the prescribed time. Rather, they pray at the exact time that Allah has decreed for them, which in their case is when they wake up or remember. As the Prophet ﷺ said: “Whoever forgets a prayer, its time is when they remember it.” This was reported by al-Bayhaqī and al-Daraqutnī, as previously mentioned.
Thus, there are two types of prayer times: one of choice and one of necessity (excuse). For the one excused by sleep or forgetfulness, their time is the moment they wake up or remember. Therefore, such a person prays within the prescribed time. (Kitāb al-Salāh pg. 183)]
(Al-Albānī continues…) The Prophet (ﷺ) said: ‘Whoever misses the ‘Asr prayer, it is as if he has lost his family and wealth.’ What has been missed cannot be caught up/recovered, and if it were possible to catch/recover it, it would not have be called ‘missed’, (fā’it).
This is the position of Dawūd al-Dhāhirī and also Ibn Hazm, who elaborated on this issue in a manner that had not been previously mentioned.
He [i.e. Ibn Hazm] also said: ‘Among those who held our view on this are ‘Umar ibn al-Khattāb, his son ‘Abdullāh, Sa’d ibn Abī Waqqās, Salmān – the companion of the Prophet, Ibn Mas’ūd, Qāsim ibn Muhammad ibn Abī Bakr, Badīl al-‘Uqailī, Muhammad ibn Sirīn, Mutarif ibn Abdullāh, ‘Umar ibn ‘Abd al-Azīz, and others. Al-Hasan al-Basrī also held the same view, saying: If a man deliberately misses a prayer, he does not make it up.’
Then he [Ibn Hazm] said: ‘From the companions of the prophet (ﷺ) that we have mentioned, we do not know of anyone else (from among them) who opposed this view.’
This (view) was also chosen by Shaykh al-Islām Ibn Taymiyyah, who said in Al-Ikhtiyārāt (p. 19):
‘The one who deliberately leaves the prayer is not legislated to make it up, and it is not valid from him. Rather, he should increase in voluntary prayers, as well as fasting. This is the view of a group of the Salaf, such as Abū Abdul-Rahmān, a companion of al-Shāfi’ī, Dawūd, and his followers. There is no evidence to oppose this view; rather, (the evidence) aligns with it…” (Abridged, Jāmi’ al-Turāth of Al-Albānī 2/235)
Al-Albānī says elsewhere:… addressing the error of those who leave out the prayer and later repent is not by commanding them to worship Allāh in a way He has not legislated, such as performing prayers outside their prescribed times [i.e making them up]…
…such individuals [who leave out the prayer intentionally] cannot compensate for the great sin they commit of neglecting the prayer and allowing it to lapse beyond its (prescribed) time by introducing a prayer of their own accord, such as performing the Fajr prayer during the day or the Dhuhr prayer at night, claiming it to be “making up” the missed prayers.
Those who argue for this so-called “making up” make no distinction between performing a daytime prayer at night or a nighttime prayer during the day—it’s all considered the same to them, it’s all performing the prayer outside of its time, and they all acknowledge this.
So, we ask: where did you get this “make-up” prayer? You call it qadā (making up), while Allāh has said:
إِنَّ الصَّلاةَ كَانَتْ عَلَى الْمُؤْمِنِينَ كِتَابًا مَوْقُوتًا ﴾ [النساء : (۱۰۳)
“Indeed, the prayer has been decreed upon the believers at specified, fixed times” [al-Nisā:103].
At specified and fixed times, with a beginning and an end. Yet they perform the prayer outside of its time, and such a prayer – being outside its prescribed time, is certainly not the same as the prayer they missed…
… For example, Allāh has prescribed the time for ‘Asr prayer between ‘Asr and Maghrib, and for Maghrib between Maghrib and ‘Ishā. Yet it’s said (by them) that you can pray whenever you want! Where does this come from? Allāh says:
أَمْ هُمْ شُرَكَاءُ شَرَعُوا هُمْ مِنَ الدِّينِ مَا لَمْ يَأْذَنْ بِهِ اللَّهُ ﴾ [الشورى: ٢١]
“Or have they partners with Allāh who have legislated for them a religion to which Allāh has not ordained?” [al-Shūrā:21].
… the Prophet (ﷺ) said: ‘Whoever catches up a rak’ah of the Asr prayer before the sun sets has caught the prayer.’
So the one who has not caught up a rak’ah has not caught the prayer. What, then, should he do, O esteemed scholars? Should he pray it (anyway)? If that is so, why did the Prophet (ﷺ) specify “whoever catches up a rak‘ah”? The meaning is that if someone fails to catch even one rak‘ah, there is no prayer for him. If making up missed prayers were permissible, the Prophet (ﷺ) would have simply said to complete it outside its time.
…the concept of qadā (making up missed prayers) has no basis in Islām whatsoever… (Abridged, Silsilah al-Hudā wa al-Nūr 146. Jāmi al-Turāth 2/241-243)
Ibn Hazm said: As for the one who deliberately leaves out a prayer until its time has lapsed, he can never make it up. Instead, they should increase in doing good deeds and offering voluntary prayers, so that it may weigh heavily on their scale of deeds on the Day of Judgment. They should also repent and seek forgiveness from Allāh – The Mighty and Majestic.
The proof of the correctness of our stance is the saying of Allāh, The Most-High,
{فَوَيْلٌ لِلْمُصَلِّينَ} [الماعون: ٤]
“So woe to those who pray” [Al-Mā’ūn: 4]
{الَّذِينَ هُمْ عَنْ صَلاتِهِمْ سَاهُونَ} [الماعون: ٥]
“Those who are sāhūn (i.e. delay) their prayer (from their fixed times). ” [Al-Mā’ūn: 5]
and His saying:
{فَخَلَفَ مِنْ بَعْدِهِمْ خَلْفٌ أَضَاعُوا الصَّلاةَ وَاتَّبَعُوا الشَّهَوَاتِ فَسَوْفَ يَلْقَوْنَ غَيًّا} [مريم: ٥٩]
“Then there has succeeded them a posterity who gave up the prayer (i.e. by delaying them from their fixed time or not offering them correctly) and followed desires, and they will encounter Ghayy (i.e. loss/evil/entry to the hellfire)” [Maryam: 59].
If the one who intentionally leaves out the prayer were still considered to have performed it after its time has lapsed, he would not deserve “Woe” [a word denoting punishment, sorrow and destruction] or encounter “Ghayy“, just as there is no “Woe” or “Ghayy” for one who delays it until its later time, when it is still possible to perform it.
Also, Allāh, The Most-High, has set a fixed time for each obligatory prayer, with defined beginning and end. It enters (i.e becomes valid) at a specific period and ends (i.e. becomes invalid) at a specific period.
Thus, there is no difference between one who performs it before its time enters and one who performs it after its time ceases, because both have prayed outside its prescribed time. This is not a comparison of one over the other, but both are the same in violating the limits set by Allāh. And Allāh, The Most-High, has said:
{وَمَنْ يَتَعَدَّ حُدُودَ اللَّهِ فَقَدْ ظَلَمَ نَفْسَهُ} [الطلاق: ١]
“And whoever transgresses the limits of Allāh has wronged himself” [At-Talaq: 1].
And also, the act of making up a missed prayer (qadā’) is a legislative (Shari’ah) ruling, and legislation is only permitted from Allāh, The Most-High, conveyed through the tongue of His Messenger (ﷺ).
So, we ask those who have made it obligatory for the one who intentionally leaves out a prayer to make up for it: Inform us about this prayer that you command one to perform. Is it the same prayer that Allāh, The Most-High, has (originally) commanded one to perform? Or is it a different prayer?
If they say it is the same (original prayer), we would say: “then the one who deliberately leaves it is not disobedient, because he has done what Allāh, The Most-High, has commanded, and it doesn’t entail sin (based) on your statement. Thus, there is no blame on one who deliberately leaves the prayer until its time has lapsed.” And no Muslim would say (the likes of) this.
And if they say: “It is not the prayer that Allāh, The Most-High, commanded him to perform,” we would reply: “You are correct”, and in this there is sufficient evidence – for they have admitted that they have commanded him to do something that Allāh, The Most-High, did not command him to do.
Then we ask them about someone who intentionally delayed the prayer until after its prescribed time: Is this act an act of obedience or disobedience (i.e. sin)? If they say it is obedience, they contradict the unanimously agreed-upon consensus of all Muslims, as well as the Qur’ān and established Sunnah. And if they say it is disobedience, they have spoken the truth, and it is falsehood that an act of disobedience can substitute for an act of obedience.
Also, Allāh, The Most-High, has specified the times for the (performance of) prayers through the words of His Messenger (ﷺ). He has prescribed for each prayer a beginning time – of which before it (one) cannot perform (the prayer) , and an ending time – of which after it (one) cannot perform (the prayer). There is no disagreement about this (point) from anyone in the Ummah. If it were permissible to perform the prayer after its time, then (the prophet ﷺ) specifying the last time for it would have no meaning, and it would be a meaningless statement, and Allāh is far exalted from such a thing.
Additionally, every act [of worship] that is tied to a specific time is not valid outside of that time. If it were valid outside of that time, then that time would not be the legislated time for it, and this is clear. And with Allāh, The Most-High, is the success. (al-Muhallā 2/10-11)
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