Making up missed prayers during prohibited times

The jurists of the 4 schools differed over the ruling on making up missed prayers during prohibited times in 3 views.

The first view: it is permitted to make up the obligatory prayer or a sunnah with a cause during the prohibited times; the prohibition of praying at those hours applies only to newly begun voluntary prayers and voluntary prayer itself. This is the madhhab of Imam al-Shafi'i and his companions, and of Ahmad according to a narration chosen by Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah and Ibn al-Qayyim.

Imam al-Shafi'i (may Allah have mercy on him) said: "The sum of the prohibition by the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), and Allah knows best, of prayer after Subh until the sun rises and after its appearance until it rises high, of prayer after Asr until the sun sets and after the disappearance of part of it until all of it disappears, and of prayer at midday until the sun declines, except on the day of Friday, applies to no prayer which imposes commitment on the worshipper in any of the possible ways, nor to a confirmed prayer which has been commanded though it is not obligatory, nor to a prayer the man used to pray and then neglected; when one of these prayers is prayed at those times, it is by indication of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), then by the consensus of the people in praying over the dead after Subh and after Asr" (al-Umm, 1/232).

It will be said: where is the indication from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him)? The answer: his saying: "Whoever forgets a prayer or sleeps through it, let him pray it when he remembers it" (al-Bukhari, 572; Muslim, 684); Allah the Most High says: "And establish prayer for My remembrance" (Surah Taha, 14); and it was commanded that no one be prevented from circumambulating the House and praying there at whatever hour he wishes; and the Muslims prayed over their dead after Subh and after Asr.

Umm Salamah reported that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) prayed 2 rak'ahs after Asr in her house, which he used to pray after Dhuhr and had been distracted from. And Qays, the grandfather of Yahya ibn Sa'id, reported that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) saw him praying 2 rak'ahs after Subh; he questioned him, and he told him they were the 2 rak'ahs of Fajr, and he approved (sahih hadith: Abu Dawud, 1267; the Prophet said to him: "The Subh prayer is 2 rak'ahs," and the man replied: "I had not prayed them before, so I prayed them now," and the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) remained silent). For the 2 rak'ahs of Fajr are confirmed and commanded: the prohibition of prayer at the prohibited times therefore cannot apply to a prayer lacking binding character.

As for any prayer its owner was accustomed to pray and then neglected or was distracted from, and any confirmed prayer even if not obligatory, such as the 2 rak'ahs of Fajr and the eclipse prayer, the prohibition of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) stands for everything other than these (al-Istidhkar, 1/373).

Al-Mawardi (may Allah have mercy on him) said: "The specification of certain prayers by the prohibition refers to the prayer of a nafl by which the worshipper begins without a cause; as for the prayers with causes, among the obligatory and recommended prayers, performing them is permitted at all these times, such as the missed prayer, the Witr, the 2 rak'ahs of Fajr, the greeting of the mosque, the Friday prayer, the 2 Eids and the prayer for rain" (al-Hawi al-Kabir, 6/352; Ma'rifat al-Sunan wa-l-Athar of al-Bayhaqi, 2/263, 273; al-Majmu' of al-Nawawi, 4/170, 171; Fath al-Bari, 2/71; Majmu' al-Fatawa, 23/191; al-Insaf, 2/206, 208).

The second view: the prohibition of voluntary prayers after the Fajr prayer and after the Asr prayer is absolute, except for funerals, whose permissibility is established by consensus without waiting for sunrise or sunset; this is the madhhab of Imam Malik and his companions, and of Ahmad according to the famous position from him. Ibn Abd al-Barr (may Allah have mercy on him) said: prayer after Subh, if it is a nafl or a sunnah that is not a makeup of an obligation, is not permitted; for the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) prohibited prayer after Subh until the sun rises and after Asr until the sun sets (al-Bukhari, 1139; Muslim, 826), an absolute prohibition; yet it applies only to everything other than the obligatory among prayers, as in the hadith of Abu Hurayrah that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said:

Whoever catches a rak'ah of Subh before the sun rises, or a rak'ah of Asr before the sun sets, has caught the time.

Narrated by Muslim (608)

Among those who held this view: Malik ibn Anas and his companions;

Ahmad ibn Hanbal and Ishaq ibn Rahawayh inclined to it.

Ahmad ibn Hanbal and Ishaq said: after Asr, only a missed prayer or a funeral prayer is prayed. Malik's madhhab in this is the madhhab of Umar ibn al-Khattab, Abu Sa'id al-Khudri and Abu Hurayrah, who reported from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) that he prohibited prayer after Subh until the sun rises and prayer after Asr until the sun sets, and they know best what they reported. It should suffice you that Umar struck on account of that with the whip, and that can only come from clear insight.

Ibn Abbas also related this hadith from Umar, from the Prophet (peace be upon him), and applied it according to its apparent meaning and generality (al-Istidhkar, 1/383, 384).

Ibn Qudamah (may Allah have mercy on him) said: as for making up sunnahs at the other prohibited times, and performing other prayers with causes, such as the greeting of the mosque, the eclipse prayer and the prostration of recitation, the famous position in the madhhab is that it is not permitted; al-Kharqi mentioned it for the prostration of recitation and the eclipse prayer. The qadi said: there are 2 narrations on this, the more correct of which is that it is not permitted, the view of the rationalists, because of the generality of the prohibition; the other narration is that it is permitted, which is the view of al-Shafi'i, for the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "When one of you enters the mosque, let him not sit until he prays 2 rak'ahs" (al-Bukhari, 433; Muslim, 714), agreed upon, and he said of the eclipse: "When you see it, pray"; these are specific to those prayers, so the general prohibition concerning all prayer takes precedence; and because they are prayers with a cause, resembling what is established as permitted.

To this it is answered: the prohibition is prohibitive and the command is recommendatory, and abandoning the forbidden is better than performing the recommended; and to their saying that the command is specific to those prayers, it is answered that it is general as to time, while the prohibition is specific to that time, so the prohibition takes precedence.

Nor does the analogy apply to making up after Asr, for the prohibition in it is lighter, as we mentioned; nor to making up the Witr after the rising of dawn, for that reason and because it is its own time, as in the hadith of Abu Basrah; nor to the funeral prayer, for it is a collective obligation and the dead person is feared for; nor to the 2 rak'ahs of tawaf, for they follow something not prohibited at that time, even though we have stated that the correct position is that the funeral prayer is not prayed at the 3 times in the hadith of Uqbah ibn Amir, nor should the 2 rak'ahs of tawaf be prayed at those times, nor should a congregational prayer be repeated in them: when these confirmed prayers are prohibited at those times, others deserve prohibition more; and Allah knows best (al-Mughni, 1/431, 432; see Fath al-Bari of Ibn Rajab, 3/319, 320; al-Insaf, 2/206, 208).

The funeral prayer was singled out among the prayers by consensus on its permissibility. Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him) said: the prayer over the dead after Fajr and after Asr: Ibn al-Mundhir related the consensus of the Muslims on the funeral prayer after Fajr and after Asr; and those 3 types are performed during the prohibited times according to Ahmad without disagreement, for there are specific hadiths indicating their permissibility at the time of prohibition; that is why they were excepted, along with the funeral at the 2 times, by the consensus of the Muslims. As for the other prayers with causes, such as the greeting of the mosque, the prostration of recitation and the eclipse prayer, such as the 2 rak'ahs of tawaf at the 3 times and the funeral prayer at the 3 times, his statements about them vary: the famous position from him is the prohibition, which is the choice of many of his companions, such as al-Kharqi and the qadi, and the madhhab of Malik and Abu Hanifah; but Abu Hanifah permits the prostration after Fajr and after Asr.

There is also a narration that all prayers with causes are permitted, which is the choice of Abu al-Khattab and the madhhab of al-Shafi'i, and it is the preferable position in this chapter, for reasons; then he mentioned them (Majmu' al-Fatawa, 23/191 and following; al-Awsat, 2/397).

The third view: nothing at all of all the prayers, obligatory or voluntary, is prayed at sunrise, after Subh, after Asr, at sunset and at the zenith, except the Asr of that day; this is the view of Abu Hanifah and his companions. Imam al-Sarakhsi (may Allah have mercy on him) said: know that the times in which prayer is disliked are 5; 3 of them exclude every kind of prayer: at sunrise until it turns white, and at its setting, except the Asr of that day, which is performed at sunset.

The basis of it is the hadith of Uqbah ibn Amir (may Allah be pleased with him):

Three hours in which the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) forbade us to pray or bury our dead: when the sun rises rising until it rises high, when the man of midday stands upright until the sun inclines, and when the sun yellows for setting until it sets.

Narrated by Muslim (831)

And the hadith of al-Sanabihi (may Allah be pleased with him), that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "The sun rises with the horn of Satan; when it rises high, it leaves it; then when it reaches the zenith, it joins it; when it declines, it leaves it; when it nears setting, it joins it; when it sets, it leaves it; and the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) prohibited prayer at those hours"; it is a weak hadith, narrated by Ahmad (4/348, 349), al-Nasa'i (559) and Ibn Majah (1253), among others. And the hadith of Amr ibn Abasah (may Allah be pleased with him), which is his saying: O prophet of Allah, inform me of what Allah has taught you and I do not know; inform me about prayer. He replied: "Pray the Subh prayer, then..." (the continuation is in the following part).