Can I Make up Obligatory Prayers Instead of Praying the Emphasized Sunna Prayers? Can I Have Multiple Intentions When Fasting?

Answered by Ustadh Tabraze Azam

Question: Assalam alaykum,

1. I was recently told that when making up missed prayers it is permissible to replace the Sunnah Muakadda with the making-up of the earliest prayer one has missed. Can I do this?

I was also told that one should not be praying Tarawih if one has many Fard qada to be made up.

2. Is it permissible to make multiple intentions for fasting optional fasts?

Answer: Wa alaikum assalam wa rahmatullah,

I pray this finds you in the best of health and faith, insha’Allah.

(1) No, in making up past prayers, you should not miss the current, confirmed sunna prayers. As for the tarawih prayers, there would be some more leeway in this if a person is serious, committed, and it would impact their makeup schedule. However, this would be taken on a case by case basis, and you should consult a righteous scholar before acting.

(2) Yes, you can make multiple intentions in the way you mention, namely between an obligatory fast, and a secondary, voluntary fast, yet not between two obligatory ones– so you could not intend to make up a missed Ramadan fast and a current Ramadan fast at the same time. But fasting a makeup on a Monday, to also fulfil the sunna of fasting on Mondays, would be fine.

Please also see: Fasting Six Days of Shawwal – Ruling, Whether Consecutive, Combining Intentions, Wisdoms, and What if Unable to Fast? – Faraz Rabbani

And Allah knows best.

Tabraze Azam

Checked & Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani