Is It Valid to Follow Another School When Performing the Missed (Qada) Prayers?

Answered by Mawlana Ilyas Patel

Question

If one has two decades’ worth of prayer, will it be valid to follow the Maliki opinion: Praying Nafl Prayers When You Have Make Up Prayers in the Maliki School, i.e., leaving the sunna prayers except for the fajr and witr, or the Shafi’i position, outside Ramadan?

Furthermore, due to the vastness of prayers, a person can follow opinion A: Is It Permissible to Skip Non-Obligatory and Recommended Acts of the Prayer When One Has Many Make Up Prayers to Perform? And: To What Extent Can I Restrict the Sunnah Acts in Make-Up Prayers? [Shafi’i] while following Hanafi school in prayer/purity?

Answer

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

I pray you are in good faith and health. Thank you for your question and concern about fulfilling a debt owed to Allah Most High.

Indeed, one’s missed prayers are a debt owed to Allah. As such, the first step is to repent by resolving not to miss any more prayers. This resolve, to be true, needs proof. As such, one must make up one’s prayers as quickly as reasonably possible, and if one wants to clear the responsibility with Allah Most High, he will be careful to do so.

Continue Following the Hanafi School

I recommend you continue to follow the Hanafi school and skip the non-obligatory and recommended acts of prayer. The reason is if you were to follow the Maliki school, you would also have to follow the Maliki school in prayer too. This can become difficult while praying with everyone else and explaining why you have chosen to follow the school.

Develop a Routine

The most important thing is that Allah Most High has redirected you to Him by giving you success in performing your makeups. He knows your intentions; continue as normal, and don’t over-worry. The way to do this is to develop a routine, and one should keep in mind that there is nothing more pleasing to Allah than for one to make up the missed obligatory prayers.

May Allah give us success in following the ways most pleasing to Him.

Related:
What If I Have Too Many Prayers To Make Up? [Video]
How Does One Perform The Prayer Of Need (Salat al-Haja)?
A Summary of the Non-Obligatory Prayers in the Maliki School

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I pray this helps with your question.
Wassalam,
[Mawlana] Ilyas Patel
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

Mawlana Ilyas Patel is a traditionally trained scholar who has studied in the UK, India, Pakistan, Syria, Jordan, and Turkey. He started his early education in the UK. He went on to complete the hifz of the Quran in India, then enrolled in an Islamic seminary in the UK, where he studied the secular and ‘Aalimiyya sciences. He then traveled to Karachi, Pakistan. He has been an Imam in Rep of Ireland for several years. He has taught hifz of the Quran, Tajwid, Fiqh, and many other Islamic sciences to children and adults onsite and online extensively in the UK and Ireland. He taught at a local Islamic seminary for 12 years in the UK, where he was a librarian and a teacher of Islamic sciences. He currently resides in the UK with his wife. His interest is a love of books and gardening.