When Is It Permissible to Make Up Missed Prayers?

Answered by Shaykh Yusuf Weltch

Question

Can we perform the make-up of the missed years of fard prayers at any time of the day? Or can we only do it at the prescribed time of prayers, like make-up fajr on fajr, make-up Dhuhr on Dhuhr, and so on?

Answer

In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate

It is permissible to make up missed prayers at any time, excluding the following three times:

• When the sun begins to rise until it has fully risen. (i.e., from the end of Fajr time till about 16 mins after.
• When the sun is at its zenith until it declines. (i.e., when the sun is at its zenith just before Dhuhr time enters until Dhuhr time enters.
• The sunlight begins to yellow and weakens just before sunset until the sun sets.

Note that any make-up prayers performed at these times are invalid. [Shurunbulali, Maraqi al-Falah]

Other than these times, it is permissible to make up missed prayers. Missed prayers don’t need to be performed at their respective times.

For example, you can make up a missed ‘asr prayer at ‘isha time. You do not need to pray all ‘asr prayers at ‘asr time.

Hope this helps
Allah knows best

[Shaykh] Yusuf Weltch
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

Shaykh Yusuf Weltch is a teacher of Arabic, Islamic law, and spirituality. After accepting Islam in 2008, he then completed four years at the Darul Uloom seminary in New York where he studied Arabic and the traditional sciences. He then traveled to Tarim, Yemen, where he stayed for three years studying in Dar Al-Mustafa under some of the greatest scholars of our time, including Habib Umar Bin Hafiz, Habib Kadhim al-Saqqaf, and Shaykh Umar al-Khatib. In Tarim, Shaykh Yusuf completed the memorization of the Qur’an and studied beliefs, legal methodology, hadith methodology, Qur’anic exegesis, Islamic history, and a number of texts on spirituality. He joined the SeekersGuidance faculty in the summer of 2019.