Do I Need to Repeat My Shahada and Ghusl If I Miss a Prayer?

Answered by Shaykh Yusuf Weltch

Question

I was doing ghusl, and I missed Fajr. I left the bathroom, repeated my Shahada, and did ghusl again. My question is, was that necessary? Can I assume my first ghusl was valid?

Also, when I signed up for this site, I intended to submit a question, but I also registered for a course. In Sha Allah, one day, I will take these classes, but at the moment, I don’t intend to sign up. Could you please advise me on what I should do about this?

Answer

In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate

Missing Prayers

You didn’t need to repeat your testimony of faith (Shahada), nor for you to perform the ritual bath (ghusl) a second time.

If done intentionally, missing a prayer is sinful and requires that one repent to Allah Most High but does not affect one’s faith. Sins are not acts of disbelief. Disbelief is an action of the heart. [Sawi, Sharh Jawharat al-Tawhid]

Also, missing prayer does not affect the validity of one’s ghusl. [Shurunbulali, Maraqi al -Falah]

Practical Advice

I would highly encourage you to take some classes on the basics of Islamic belief and the rulings of prayer and purification. Courses of this nature are available for free on the www.seekers.flywheelstaging.com website.

Knowledge will significantly improve your relationship with Allah Most High and make religion easy and straightforward.

Hope this helps
And 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.