Is It Permissible to Perform the Make-Up Prayers in the Congregation?

Answered by Shaykh Yusuf Weltch

Question

My children (a 15-year-old boy and a 13-year-old girl) like to pray together. Recently my older son became aware of the importance of making up missed prayers and began to do so. My daughter learned about making up missed prayers from him and also began making up her missed prayers. However, she likes to pray her prayers in jamaat with him and asked me if it was permissible for them to both make up their missed prayers in jama’a. I wasn’t sure how to reply so I’m reaching out to learn what the ruling on this matter is.

Answer

In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate

It is only permissible to pray makeup prayers in the congregation if the leader of the prayer and the followers are making up the exact same prayer from the exact same day. [Tahtawi/Shurunbulali, Hashiyat Maraqi al-Falah]

For example, if two people both overslept for the Fajr prayer from last Wednesday, it is permissible for them to make up that Fajr together, in the congregation.

However, if they both missed the Fajr prayer, but one of them missed the Fajr on Tuesday and the other on the Fajr on Monday-it is not permissible for them to make up these prayers in the congregation as they are not praying the exact same prayer from the exact same day.

An Alternative Solution

Despite the above ruling, it is important not to take away from your children’s desire for prayer. This is a blessing, especially in these times. You may want to encourage them as an alternative to choose the other prayers to pray together: the obligatory prayers  -since your son is old enough to lead the prayer for the entire family (that is if he knows the rulings and proper method of purification and prayer).

Hope this helps
Allah knows best
[Shaykh] Yusuf Weltch
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

Shaykh Yusuf Weltch teaches Arabic, Islamic law, and spirituality. After accepting Islam in 2008, he 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 studied for three years in Dar al-Mustafa under some of the most outstanding 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 Quran and studied beliefs, legal methodology, hadith methodology, Quranic exegesis, Islamic history, and several texts on spirituality. He joined the SeekersGuidance faculty in the summer of 2019.