Can I Pray Tahiyyat Al-Masjid (Greeting the Mosque) If I Owe Make-Up Prayers?

Question

I know I can combine Fajr qadha with Tahiyyat al-Masjid. What if I have qadha prayers but no fajr qadhas? Should I abstain from praying Tahiyyat al-Masjid upon entrance into the mosque during Friday khutba and other occasions?

Should I also abstain from Tahiyyat al-Masjid when I have enough Fajr qadhas but possibly not enough for both Tahiyyat al-Masjid and Tarawih congregation during Ramadan if I want to combine them also with Tarawih prayer?

Answer

In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate.

May Allah guide our hearts, tongues, and deeds to that which perpetually pleases Him.

Praying make-up prayers takes precedence over supererogatory prayers, and in the Shafi‘i School, one must first pray make-up prayers before recommencing with supererogatory prayers. Tahiyyat al-Masjid (the Prayer of Greeting the Mosque) is of the category of supererogatory prayers that may be combined with other prayers with one intention, and Allah knows best.

Making Up Missed Prayers

Whenever a prescribed prayer is missed for a valid reason, it is recommended to make it up immediately. If missed without a good cause, 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. [Keller, Reliance of the Traveller]

Greeting the Mosque

It is recommended for whoever enters a mosque to greet the mosque by praying two cycles of prayer each time he enters, even if many times within an hour. One is no longer entitled to pray it after sitting. [Nawawi, Majmu‘]

Combining Greeting the Mosque with Other Prayers

Greeting the Mosque is accomplished anytime one enters a mosque and prays any two cycles of prayer, whether one intends merely performing two supererogatory units of prayer fulfilling a vow, the sunna units of prayer before or after a prescribed prayer, the prescribed prayer alone, or the prescribed prayer together with the intention of greeting the mosque. [Nawawi, Majmu‘]

If one enters the mosque when one does not have ablution (wudu), it is sunna to say four times:

سُبْحَانَ اللهِ وَالحَمْدُ للهِ وَلَا إِلَهَ إِلّا الله واللهُ أَكْبَر

“Allah is far exalted above any limitation; praise be to Allah, there is no god but Allah; Allah is the greatest.”

It is offensive to begin any non-obligatory prayer, whether greeting the mosque, the sunna prayers before a prescribed prayer, or other when the imam has already started the prescribed prayer or the mu’adhin has begun the call to commence (iqama). [Nawawi, Majmu‘]

I pray this is of benefit.
[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 pursuing his Master’s degree in the study of Islam at the University of Johannesburg. He has a keen interest in healthy living and fitness.