Can I Delay Making Up a Missed Prayer?
Answered by Shaykh Irshaad Sedick
Question
If one comes home after traveling and the prayer time has passed for Maghrib, can he do the Maghrib prayer late without sin, or is it an unacceptable act in the Shafi‘i School?
Answer
In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate. May Allah alleviate our difficulties and guide us to what pleases Him. Amin.
Whenever a prescribed prayer is missed for a valid reason, it is recommended to make it up immediately. If missed without a valid reason, it is obligatory to make it up immediately (meaning during all one’s time that is not occupied by necessities.)
In the Shafi’i School, it is not even permissible for such a person to perform Sunna prayers before having finished making up the missed ones. Allah knows best. [Keller, Reliance of the Traveller]
Valid Reasons for Missing Prayers
No one has an excuse to delay the prayer beyond its time except:
(1) someone asleep (when its time first came who remained so until the time ended);
(2) someone who forgot it;
(3) or someone who delayed it to combine two prayers during a journey. [Misri, ‘Umdat al-Salik]
I pray this is of benefit and that Allah guides us all.
[Shaykh] Irshaad Sedick
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
Shaykh Irshaad Sedick was raised in South Africa in a traditional Muslim family. He graduated from Dar al-Ulum al-Arabiyyah al-Islamiyyah in Strand, Western Cape, under the guidance of the late world-renowned scholar Shaykh Taha Karaan.
Shaykh Irshaad received Ijaza from many luminaries of the Islamic world, including Shaykh Taha Karaan, Mawlana Yusuf Karaan, and Mawlana Abdul Hafeez Makki, among others.
He is the author of the text “The Musnad of Ahmad ibn Hanbal: A Hujjah or not?” He has served as the Director of the Discover Islam Centre and Al Jeem Foundation. For the last five years till present, he has served as the Khatib of Masjid Ar-Rashideen, Mowbray, Cape Town.
Shaykh Irshaad has thirteen years of teaching experience at some of the leading Islamic institutes in Cape Town). He is currently building an Islamic online learning and media platform called ‘Isnad Academy’ and has completed his Master’s degree in the study of Islam at the University of Johannesburg. He has a keen interest in healthy living and fitness.
