:salam2:
I was viewing the online lecture of "The Believer's Castle" and the sheikh mentioned that one cannot ever make up missed prayers unless if they were missed because of sleep or forgetfulness.
I actually missed a lot of prayers when I was young and not practicing, but I've been trying to make these up with each regular prayer. Tell me, is this wrong? Can no prayer at all be done as qadha?
Asalaamu Alaikum,
My sister there is no doubt that there is well-established scholarly consensus (ijma`) that missed obligatory prayers must be made up.
[Nawawi, al-Majmu`]
Therefore there is no disputing this fact that we must make up our prayers. We do not have any excuses.
From Imam Nawawi's Riyad al-Salihin ('Garden's of the Righteous') the following:
386.
Abu Hurayra reported that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "Allah Almighty says, 'I have declared war against anyone who shows enmity towards a friend of Mine. My slave does not draw near to Me with anything I love more than what I made obligatory for him. Then My slave continues to draw near to Me with supererogatory actions until I love him. When I love him, I become his hearing with which he hears, his sight by which he sees, his hand with which he strikes and his foot with which he walks. If he asks of Me, I give to him. If he seeks refuge with Me, I give him refuge.'" [al-Bukhari]
Therefore we must make up all of the Fard and Witr prayers we have missed from puberty until now calculating from the best of our ability to the nearest number inshallah.
Consistency is better than burning yourself out, and leaving the endeavour altogether.
Our makeup prayers are also going to be judged by Allah, and we will be rewarded or punished for them. Thus, while we should pray them at a steady, consistent, and fast pace, one should not rush one's prayer.
Most rushing only fuels one's delusions and desire to be 'busy': experience shows that people who make up the most prayers tend to be those who find sweetness and presence of heart in their prayer, and it is this that fuels their determination and enables them to actually make them up as they should.
Organize your time, make a schedule of make up prayers that you stick to, and perform both your confirmed sunna prayers, which the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) essentially never left, as well as your makeup prayers.
At least by making up our prayers we will have the peace of mind that we are trying to fulfill what we neglected in the past.
In regards to missing prayers at work and praying Qadha at home then this is the same as intentionally missing prayers which is a major sin. I myself have know many people like this who for some reason are "Convenience Muslims" as in they only pray when it is convenient for them and when it is not then they neglect and miss the prayer and only pray it when they have'nt got any worldy commitments.
There is NO excuse whatsoever for missing any prayer unless one is completly unconcious. How hard is it for a person to pray when one is at work? I have worked in many different organisations and it is so easy to pray at any workplace.
You do not even need a desginated prayer area as long as there is sufficient space to make sajdah then one can pray anywhere. Break times are sufficient at work but even if one does not have any breaks left then how long does it take to pray a fard prayer? 4 minutes? How long does one take to go toilet at work? 4 minutes? Therefore instead of going toilet one can simply go and pray and it would take less time than one going to the toilet. It is just about making the effort.
Some Muslims actually find it embarressing to pray at work or they don't want to "inconvenience" their organisation. These are truly pathetic excuses. We should be proud to be Muslims and to pray Salaah no matter where we are. What a wonderful way to give dawah to non Muslims at work when they enquire about our prayer or when we make ablution at work.
Therefore let us be proud to be practising Muslims and let us make the effort to pray no matter where we are as there is NO excuse not to pray at work or anywhere else for that matter.
And Allah knows best in all matters