How does one make up the missed Solah?

How does one make up the missed Solāt? Can we Qadā the missed Solāt?

In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful;

All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and May Allah blessings and peace be upon His Messenger.

Firstly: Solāt are enjoined to be adhered to its specific time and it is not permissible to transgress against that except for reasons permitted in syari’ah.

The Five daily Solāh is a mandatory tenet of Islam and indeed Allāh has allocated specific times for acts of worship for reasons that are known to Him.  Allāh Subhānahu wa Ta`āla clearly says in the Qurān:

“Verily, as-Solāh (the prayers) is enjoined on the believers at fixed hours”

[An-Nisa’, 4:103]

The believers are enjoined to adhere to it and it is not permissible to transgress against that except for reasons permitted in syarī’ah.

Secondly: Possible reasons for Missing the Solāh

If a person misses the Solāt, one of two scenarios must possibly apply:

1 – He missed it for a reason, such as falling asleep or forgetting it. There is no sin on him in this case, but he has to make it up when he wakes up or remembers it.

It was narrated from Anas Ibn Mālik (radiallāhu`anha) that the Prophet (sallallāhu `alayhi wa sallam) said:

“Whoever forgets a Solāt let him offer it as soon as he remembers, for there is no expiation for it other than that.”

[Narrated by Al-Bukhari (572)]

Muslim narrated an additional phrase: “or sleeps and misses it”: “If one of you sleeps and misses a Solāt, or forgets it, let him offer the Solāt when he remembers, for Allāh says ‘and perform As-Solāh (Iqāmat as-Solāh) for My remembrance’ [Ta-Ha, 20:14].”

[Narrated by Muslim (684)]

2 – He missed the Solāt with no excuse; rather he ignored it until the time for it ended, out of laziness and carelessness. This according to the consensus of the fuqahā that the person has committed a major sin.

It is not valid for him to make it up (Qadhā') according to the more correct of the two scholarly opinions, rather he has to repent and regret it, and resolve not to do that again, and he should do a lot of good deeds and offer a lot of voluntary Solāts.

Ibn Hazam said: "As for the one who deliberately omits to Solāt until the time for the Solāt ends, he can never make it up, so he should do a lot of good deeds and offer a lot of voluntary Solāts, so that his balance (of good deeds) will weigh heavily on the Day of Resurrection, and he should repent and ask Allah for forgiveness."

[Al-Muhalla (2/235)]

This is also the view of ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb and his son ‘Abdallah Ibn Umar, and of Sa’ad Ibn Abi Waqqas, Salman, Ibn Mas’ud, Al-Qasim Ibn Muhammad Ibn Abi Bakr, Badīl Al-‘Aqīli, Muhammad Ibn Sireen, Mutarrif Ibn ‘Abdallāh and ‘Umar Ibn ‘Abd Al-‘Azīz. It was also the view of Dawud Al-Zahiri and Ibn Hazam, and was the view favoured by Shaikh Al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah and Al-Shawkāni. Among contemporary scholars it was regarded as more correct by Al-Albāni, Ibn Bāz, Ibn ‘Uthaymīn and others.

They quoted as evidence the following:

(i) Allāh States:

“Verily, As-Salāh (the Prayers) is enjoined on the believers at fixed hours”

[An-Nisā’, 4:103]

There is a set time for Solāt and it is not permissible to do it at any other time except with evidence.

The Prophet (sallallāhu `alayhi wa sallam) said:

“Whoever forgets a Solāt, let him offer it as soon as he remembers, for there is no expiation for it other than that.”

[Narrated by Al-Bukhāri (572)]

(ii) The words “let him offer it as soon as he remembers, for there is no expiation for it other than that” refers: “If he delays in offering the Solāt after he remembers it, then it is not expiation”

So, how about the one who neglects it deliberately without forgetting or sleeping? It is even more likely that it will not be expiation in that case and making it up will be of no benefit.

(iii) It is because Allāh has allocated a specific time for each obligatory Solāt, specifying the beginning and end thereof, so it is as if it is not valid to do it before that time just as it is not valid to do it afterwards.

[Al-Muhalla (2/235)]

iv) Ibn Hazam said:  “Also, making it up should be based on evidence, and it is not permissible for anything to be prescribed other than by Allāh on the lips of His Messenger (sallallāhu `alayhi wa sallam). We ask those who say that the one who deliberately omits the Solāt is obliged to make it up to tell us about the Solāt. Is it that was enjoined by Allāh or some other Solāts?

If they say it is the one that was enjoined by Allāh, then we say to them: Then the one who deliberately omits it is a sinner, because he has not done what Allāh commanded him to do and there is a sin, because he deliberately omits to pray until the time for it ends.”

[Al-Muhalla (2/236)]

Those who say that he has to make it up did so by analogy with the one who forgets or falls asleep, and they said that if the one who forgets has to make it up, then it is more likely that the one who deliberately omitted it should do so.

My response is that there is no comparison between the two scenarios, because the one who omits it deliberately is sinning, which is not true in the case of the one who forgets, so how can an analogy be drawn between the one who is sinning and the one who is not sinning?

Al-Shawkāni said that Ibn Taymiyah (rahimahullah) said:  Those who disagree – i.e., those who say that he should make up the Solāt – do not have any proof to support their argument. Most of them say that he does not have to make it up unless there is a clear command (based on evidence), but there is no such command in this case. We do not disagree that it is obligatory to make it up; rather we disagree as to whether the made-up Solāt will be accepted from him and whether Solāt offered at the wrong time is valid. He discussed this matter at length and he favoured the view that was mentioned by Dawud and those who agreed with him, and the matter is as he put it, because I made a thorough study of this matter and I did not see any reliable evidence that obliges the one who misses a Solāt deliberately to make it up.

[Nayl al-Awtār (2/26)]

The more correct view and Allāh knows best, is that the one who deliberately omits the Solāt should not make it up; rather he has to seek forgiveness and repent. Ibn Al-Qayyim (rahimallah) discussed this issue at length and examined the evidence of both sides in his useful book Al-Solāh (p. 67-109).

Shaikh Al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah said: "The scholars who say that he should make up the Solāt does not means that by making it up he is absolved of sin, rather they say that by making it up his burden of sin is reduced, but the sin of missing and delaying the Solāt beyond its prescribed time, it needs either repentance or good deeds that will erase it or other things that will waive the punishment."

[Minhaj al-Sunnah (5/233)]

[Adapted from Islam QA]