Being an Ibādat-i
badaniyya (physical worship), namāz cannot be performed on behalf of
someone else. Everyone has to perform it himself. A person who is seriously ill
or very old cannot give fidya [money] to the poor in place of performing namāz.
However, he can give fidya as a substitute for fasting when he is not able to
fast.
It is written in Halabī-yi
kebīr: A person who has omitted a namāz with an excuse or without
an excuse has to make qadā of it (has to perform it later). Since only in the
Hanbalī Madhhab a person who omits a namāz without an excuse becomes a
renegade, he does not have to make qadā of a namāz. He has to make his tawba
for disbelief first. It is written on its sixth page, Because it is
definitely fard to perform namāz, he who disbelieves it becomes a kāfir. A
person who believes it but does not perform it becomes sinful. The case is the
same with all the fards that are declared clearly by the Qurān, by the sunnat
(the Prophets hadīths), and by the ijmā
(unanimity of the Sahāba). Those fards that have been inferred through ijtihād
are called muqayyad. A person who
disbelieves them does not become a kāfir. [One who slights these, who follows
his own mind, and who despises the word of a mujtahid becomes a kāfir.]
Master Ibrāhim Muhammad Neshāt rahmatullāhi
taālā alaih, representative of Jāmiul azhar
in the Republic of Cameroon, says on the twenty-fifth page of the sixth book of
the series on Islamic Culture: All
savants have declared that it is a grave sin to omit namāz and that it is
necessary to make qadā of it. Ibn-i Taymiyya said that a person who omitted
namāz without a good reason would not have to make qadā of it, that it was not
sahīh to make qadā of it, that the person would have to perform many
supererogatory prayers, do many favours, do many good things, and recite
istighfār a great deal, instead. And an earlier Muslim thinker, Ibn Hazm, too,
put forth such heretical thoughts. Attaching wrong meanings to āyats and
hadīths, Ibn Taymiyya and Ibn Hazm disagreed with the Ahl as-Sunna in this respect too, and fanned the
flames of the heretical idea that good deeds could replace namāz. This has been
one of the most harmful wounds that they inflicted on Islam.
It is written on the two hundred and fifty-sixth
page of Durr-ul-mukhtār: It is harām to
perform the fard namāz after its
prescribed time is
over, that is, to leave it to qadā, without a good excuse. It is written on
its four hundred and eighty-fifth page: It is a grave sin to perform namāz
after its prescibed time without an excuse, [that is, without one of the good
reasons prescribed by the Sharīat]. This sin is not forgiven when the namāz is
performed later. In addition to making qadā of it, it is necessary to make
tawba and to make hajj. When the qadā is made, only the sin of not having
performed the namāz is forgiven. If you make tawba without making qadā of the
namāz, neither the sin of omitting the namāz nor the sin of delaying it is
forgiven. The basis for this is that acceptance of the tawba requires
eliminating the sin.
[Some preaching books say that the namāz of four
rakats is performed in the name of Kaffārat-i
namāz after the last Friday prayer of the blessed month of Ramadān.
They even write the prayers to be said at each rakat and after the salām. This
namāz, they say, will serve as the kaffārat for all the prayers of namāz that
you have omitted previously, and all of them will be forgiven. This statement is
true. But this namāz, like all other worships done at sacred times, is for the
admittance of the tawba which you perform for the forgiveness of the sin of not
having performed the fard prayers of namāz during their appointed times,
provided that you should have made qadā of them. The omitted prayers of namāz
will never be forgiven unless you make qadā of them. Likewise, the kaffārat for
fasting does not make up for the debt of fasting; it is necessary also to make
qadā for as many days as you did not fast.]
The following writing has been translated from Durr-ul-mukhtār:
When performing the fard of the five daily prayers
and the namāz of Witr and when making qadā of them, it is necessary to observe
the tertīb. That is, when performing
namāz it is necessary to pay attention to the order of time. Also the fard of
Friday prayer must be performed at the time of the days early afternoon
prayer. A person who cannot wake up for the morning prayer has to make qadā of
it as soon as he remembers it, even if he remembers it during the khutba.
Unless a person performs a prayer, it is not permissible for him to perform the
five prayers following it. A hadīth-i sherīf
declares: If a person who has over-slept or
forgotten a prayer remembers it while performing the following prayer in
jamāat, he must finish the prayer together with the imām and then make
qadā of the
previous prayer! Then he must perform again the one that he has performed with
the imām!
Performing any namāz in its prescribed time is
called adā. When you begin to perform a
supererogatory prayer, it will be its time. Performing any namāz for the second
time before its time is over is named iāda.
If a namāz is not performed in its time, performing it after its prescribed
time is over is named qadā. It is fard
to make qadā of a fard. It is wājib to make qadā of a wājib. We are not
commanded to make qadā of a sunnat. If a person makes qadā of a sunnat the
namāz that he has performed becomes supererogatory and he does not get the
blessings of the sunnat.
[It is written in a Shiite book, If a person who
has not performed his prayers of namāz with good excuses dies, his protector
performs them or has them performed by someone else for money. It is
permissible to save a dead person from his debts by having his other worships
performed by someone else for money, too.]
The qadā can be performed at any time except the
three times cited in the tenth chapter. If a person remembers that he did not
perform the witr before he begins the morning prayer or as he performs it, his
morning prayer will not be accepted. The morning prayer will be accepted only
in case there is only enough time so as to be able to perform the witr namāz
before sunrise. This means to say that if at the end of a prayer time there is
not enough time to make the qadā also, the necessity to make the qadā first
lapses. If a person who performed the fard of the times namāz while thinking
that there was very little time left finds out later that there is enough time,
he makes the qadā and then performs the times fard again. If he forgets that
he has a namāz of qadā as he begins the times namāz or as he performs the
namāz, the namāz that he performs is accepted even if he remembers the qadā
after the namāz. For it is an excuse to forget.
Another reason that excuses the necessity of
performing the prayers of qadā in order of time is when the number of the
prayers of qadā equals six. A person who omitted six successive fard prayers,
or performed them but they were unacceptable is not a person with tertīb. In
this case he does not have to pay
attention to the
sequence of time between the prayers of qadā themselves or between the qadā
prayers and the daily prayers that he is to perform in time. For example, if a
person who has not performed a fard prayer performs the five daily prayers
though he remembers it, the five prayers will not be accepted and as a result
the number of prayers that he has not performed will be six. The namāz of witr
is not taken into consideration here. But those fard prayers that have not been
performed before are added into the calculation.
The fourth reason that eliminates the necessity of
observing the order of time among the prayers of namāz is not to know the fact
that time order is necessary. It is excusable not to know something on which
there is no Nass or ijmā. For example, if a person who has not performed the
morning prayer performs the early afternoon prayer though he remembers it, the
early afternoon prayer is not acceptable. Then if he makes qadā of the morning prayer
and performs the late afternoon prayer, the late afternoon prayer is
acceptable. For he thinks that the early afternoon prayer that he performed has
been accepted. If a person has more than five prayers of qadā and if, as he
makes qadā of them, the number of prayers which he did not perform becomes
fewer than six, the necessity of observing the time order does not reapply. He
may perform the remaining prayers without paying attention to their sequence.
If a person has fewer than six prayers that he did
not perform, the daily prayers that he performs without observing this time
order are not accepted. But this, according to Imām-i azam, depends on a
condition. When the number of prayers that he has performed later and the
number of prayers left to qadā add up to six, the prayers that he has performed
later become acceptable again. For example, if a person does not perform one
fard prayer or the witr, the prayers that he performs later are not accepted.
If he makes qadā of the prayer which he has omitted before having performed the
fifth prayer, the prayers that he has performed become supererogatory prayers.
If the time of the fifth prayer is over before he performs the omitted prayer,
the number of prayers not accepted, when added to the omitted prayer, becomes
six. In this case, the five prayers which he has performed become acceptable
again. However, during each prayer that he performs he must remember that he
has a prayer of qadā. If he has not remembered during a
few of them, they are
not added into the calculation. If a person who has not performed the morning
prayer performs the following prayers, as the sun rises the following day, all
the five prayers he has performed become acceptable.
According to the Imāmayn, the unacceptability of
the prayers that are performed with no regard to time order does not depend on
any conditions; it is categorical.
A person who cannot stand, or who may suffer harm
or feels dizzy if he stands, performs the fard prayers sitting at the place
where he makes the sajda. He bows for the rukū and places his head on the
floor for the sajda. For a person who can stand for a little while by leaning
on a wall, on a stick or on a person, it is fard to say the takbīr while
standing up and to remain standing at least long enough for that. A person who
is unable to prostrate for the sajda must make the sajda on something hard that
is less than
Ibrāhīm Halabī (rahmatullāhi taālā alaih) says
on the six hundred and eighteenth page of Halabī-i
kebīr, If the medicine put on a persons tooth in order to stop
vehement pain prevents
him from saying the
prayers, he follows the imām if there is little amount of time left. If there
is not an imām he performs the namāz without saying the prayers.
A person who cannot sit properly because of some
pain in one of his limbs, sits as he likes. He may even stretch his legs
towards the qibla in order to sit. He leans against a pillow or something else,
or someone may support or hold him and prevent him from falling. It is not
permissible for him to sit on something high and perform the namāz with signs. [The
namāz of a person who performs it sitting in a chair is not acceptable. For
there is no darūrat for sitting on a chair. He who can sit on a chair can sit
on the floor as well, and therefore he has to perform namāz sitting on the
floor. Someone should help a sick person stand up who cannot stand up from the
floor, even if he can stand up easily from a chair, after namāz. Or, the sick
person can perform the namāz sitting without hanging his feet down from a divan
laid towards the qibla. After namāz, he can hang down his feet from one side of
the divan and can stand up as he would from a chair.] A sick person who cannot
sit up on the floor, lean up against something, or be held up by someone else
must perform namāz lying on his back. He stretches his feet towards the qibla.
He puts a pillow under his head, thus his face being turned towards the qibla,
or he lies on his right or left with his face towards the qibla. He makes signs
with his head for the rukū and the sajda. A conscious but sick person who cannot
perform his prayers of namāz even by such signs does not make qadā of any of
them, even if he cannot perform namāz for more than a day. So is the case with
a person who, for some reason not caused by himself or due to an illness,
remains unconscious or oblivious so as to forget the number of sajdas or
rakats for more than a period comprising five salāts. One who becomes
unconscious by taking alcoholic drinks, narcotics or a medicine has to make
qadā of all the prayers he has not performed even if they stretch over a period
of several days.
A person who finds himself on his death-bed before
having performed his prayers, though he could have performed them at least with
signs, must order that the kaffārat of his prayers be made. The kaffārāt of
namāz is to give half a sā [1750 gr.] of wheat to a poor Muslim for each
namāz. The person whom he has enjoined it upon or one of his heirs must give
it. It must be given out of one-third of the property which the person who
enjoined it has left behind. If he did not order it while dying, it is
not necessary for
anyone to give it.
Even if the number of prayers that have not been
performed is more than five, they must be performed as soon as possible. There
is no need to hurry for the sajda-i tilāwat or for the qadā of fasting. It is
not sinful to delay them.
A person who becomes a Muslim in dār-ul-harb does
not make qadā of the prayers of namāz which he did not perform until he heard
that namāz is fard. When a renegade becomes a Muslim again he does not have to make
qadā of the prayers of namāz that he had performed before he turned a renegade
or those that he did not perform after becoming a renegade, nor does he make
qadā of the fasts. But he has to make hajj again. He makes qadā of those fard
prayers which he did not perform before turning a renegade. It is a grave sin
for a Muslim not to do the fard. His sins are not pardoned when he becomes a
renegade.
When you are sick it is permissible to make qadā
of the prayers you did not perform while you were healthy by making a tayammum
or with signs. When you recover you do not have to perform them again. A person
who is making qadā must not let others know of it. It is sinful to omit namāz,
and must be kept secret.
There are two justifiable reasons for leaving a
namāz that is fard or wājib to qadā knowingly. The first one is based on your
being confronted by an enemy. The second one applies for a travelling person
a person who is on a journey even if he has not intended to go a distance of
three days who fears a thief, a wild animal, a flood, or a storm. When such
people cannot perform namāz even with signs, by sitting, by turning towards a
direction, or on an animal, they can leave it to qadā. It is not sinful to
leave the fards to qadā for one of these two reasons or to miss them as a
result of falling asleep or forgetting. After stating that it is mustahab to
delay night prayer until one-third of the time allotted for it has passed, they
(scholars) add, It is not harām to go to sleep after a prayer time has begun
and thus to miss the prayer, yet it is tahrīmī mekrūh. If you ask someone to
wake you up or set the alarm clock, it will not be mekrūh to go to sleep after
the prayer time has begun. It is written in the explanation of Ashbāh by Kara Ēelebizāde, It is acceptable to
perform namāz after its
appointed time in order
to save those who are about to drown or the like. But it is fard to make qadā
of it [as soon as the excuse ceases to exist]. Only, with the exception of the
three times during which it is harām to perform namāz, it is permissible to
delay the prayers of qadā long enough to earn sustenance for your household and
to supply your indispensable needs provided you will perform the qadā prayers
in your free time. You become sinful if you delay them any longer. As a matter
of fact, Rasūlullah (sallallāhu alaihi wasallam) performed the four prayers,
which they had not been able to perform because of the severity of the war of
Handak (Trench), in jamāat on the same night though the Sahāba (radiyallāhu
anhum) were wounded and very tired.
The savants of the Hanafī Madhhab declare
unanimously that it has been commanded that prayers that are sunnat must be
performed only during their appointed time. Those sunnat prayers which one
cannot perform in time do not remain as ones debts. Therefore, we have not
been commanded to make qadā of them. However, since the sunnat of the morning
prayer is close to wājib, when it cannot be performed in time, it is performed
together with its fard before noon that day. The sunnat of the morning prayer
cannot be made qadā of in the afternoon, and the sunnats of other prayers can
never be made qadā of. If you make qadā of it you do not get the blessings of a
sunnat, but you get the blessings of supererogatory prayer.
There are two kinds of a Muslims not performing a
namāz in its prescibed time:
1 - His not performing it due to some excuse. It
is called fawt to miss a namāz due to
some excuse. A sunnat is omitted in order not to commit a harām, a mekrūh or a
bidat, not to miss or even not to delay a fard or a wājib. It is permissible,
and even necessary, to omit the sunnats for these reasons and purposes. In
fact, it is sinful not to omit them in such cases. It is not sinful to miss a
fard prayer with an excuse, either, but it must be made qadā of immediately.
2 - His omitting namāz because of laziness though
he knows
that namāz is his duty
and esteems it highly. It is not sinful to omit the sunnats insistently without
an excuse, but it will cause your being questioned and scolded in the
Hereafter. Kamāladdīn ibni Humām said that it would be sinful not to perform a
fard or a wājib, and that not performing the sunnats would cause one to be
deprived of their blessings and high grades. Yet in Halabī-yi saghīr: It has been said by savants that it is not
sinful to omit the sunnat of morning prayer and other muakkad sunnats. However,
it will cause one to be deprived of their blessings, high grades, and one will
be scolded. But omitting the fard prayers without an excuse is a very grave
sin. Therefore, in explaining the prayers of qadā, books of dīn say, A Muslim
omits his prayer of namāz only with an excuse. For this reason, every book
mentions Fāita, that is, the qadā of
missed prayers. For, Muslims of the past would miss their namāz only for
reasons they could not help. None of them would omit it without an excuse. It
is written in the books Umdat-ul-islām
and Jāmi-ul-fatāwā[1]: When in front of the
enemy, omitting a namāz while it is possible to perform it is as sinful as
committing seven hundred grave sins. As it is seen, fāita namāz means namāz
that has been left to qadā. Omitted namāz also means namāz that has been left
to qadā. Namāz that has been left to qadā can be expressed with the word
fāita as well as with the word omitted. Using these two words
interchangeably for this purpose does not indicate that rules pertaining to
fāita namāz are the same as those pertaining to omitted namāz. Fāita namāz is a
namāz that is not sinful, (that is, one does not become sinful on account of
fāita namāz). Omitted namāz, on the other hand, incurs a grave sin. For
example, a fighter for Islam is a human being. A murderer is a human being,
too. That both of them are human does not eliminate the fact that the murderer
is sinful. Nor does it abrogate the thawāb which the fighter for Islam
deserves.
It is deemed permissible by savants that a person
who has left some of his prayers to qadā for reasons prescribed by the Sharīat
may not perform those prayers instead of the sunnats of the five daily prayers
and may not omit the sunnats. Yet during the times when Islamic books were
written there was not a single person who did not perform namāz in
---------------------------------
[1] Written by Abu-l-Qāsim Semerkandī 'rahmatullāhi ta'ālā 'alaih', (d. 556 [1161 A.D.].) The book is also called Jāmi'-ul-kebīr.
Islamic countries. Nor
was there anyone who left namāz to qadā without an excuse. And there were few
people who left namāz to qadā with an excuse. But now there are few who perform
namāz. And the number of prayers that many of them have omitted is a matter of
years. Because they have omitted their prayers without any excuse they have become
very sinful. Seeing these facts, in order not to die with debts of namāz, and
to escape the torment in Hell, those who have omitted their prayers without an
excuse should, at least, intend to make qadā when performing the sunnats of
four of the five daily prayers. Yet, because the sunnat of morning prayer is
strongly emphasized, the sunnat of morning prayer must be performed with the
intention of sunnat.
Hadrat Sayyid Abdulhakīm Arvāsī (rahmatullāhi
aleyh), who was an expert in the knowledge of fiqh in all four Madhhabs, said,
Those who do not perform namāz because of laziness, and those who have years
of debts of namāz, when they begin performing namāz, should make their niyyat
to make qadā of the first omitted namāz of the time as they perform the sunnat
of each prayer. It is required in all four Madhhabs that they perform the
sunnats by making their niyyat for the namāz of qadā. In the Hanafī Madhhab it
is a grave sin to leave namāz to qadā without an excuse. This very grave sin
becomes double as each free time that is long enough to perform namāz passes.
For it is fard also to make qadā of namāz in your free time as soon as
possible. To get rid of this terrible sin, which cannot be calculated or
measured, and for escaping its torment, it is necessary to perform the sunnats
of four daily prayers, with the exception of the morning prayer and the
first, final, and time sunnats of Friday prayer by making the niyyat to make
the qadā of the omitted fard prayers, and to perform the Witr namāz instead of
the final sunnat of night prayer. The Hanafī books contain many evidences to
prove that this is true.
It
is a grave sin to omit a namāz that is fard. It is necessary to make tawba
immediately. And worse is the sin of postponing the
tawba [by postponing
the performance of qadā]. This grave sin becomes twice itself in wickedness at
each length of time wherein one could perform the qadā, i.e. six minutes, spent
at leisure. It is fard to make tawba also for postponing the performance of qadā.
Once you have performed the qadā for the earliest prayer of namāz that you
omitted, all the sins incurred by postponing the qadā for such a long time,
(i.e. since the correct time you should have performed it,) will be forgiven.
Therefore, it is necessary to perform the prayers of qadā, and thereby to pay
off your debts, as soon as possible.
FARDS and SUNNATS: [Taking away someone else's
property secretly is termed sirqat (theft). Outright seizure by way of
extortion, violation and usurpation is termed ghasb (plunder, pillage). Both of
them are harām. In either case the rightful owner suffers deprivation; so the
sinfulness thereby incurred lasts as long as the deprivation lasts, till the
owner is given back what he has been stripped of. It becomes a permanent kind
of wrongdoing that demands an extra, continuous and daily performance of tawba.
Supererogatory worship done by a person who does not perform the worship that
is fard within its correct time is not acceptable. For, that person is satisfying
the desires of his nafs instead of performing the command of Allāhu ta'ālā.
When zakāt is not paid the poor people's right has been expropriated. A rich
person who does not pay zakāt has robbed thousands of poor people of their
right and has disobeyed the command of Allāhu ta'ālā; therefore all his acts of
charity and supererogatory donations will be rejected. LikeWise, a person who
does not pay his debts is under heavy responsibility laden with similar rights.
To perform namāz is a debt that one owes to Allāhu taālā. Not to perform a certain namāz within the time allotted to it means to run up this debt along with the debt of benedictions that Muslims invoke on one another during the performance o namāz. Negligence of this divine and civic duty causes rejection of all the supererogatory and sunnat prayers of namāz performed until the (payment of debt termed) qadā of the omitted namāz is performed. It is a deadly sin to leave a (fard) namāz to qadā, (i.e. not to perform it within the time Islam dictates.) A person who does not make qadā of an omitted or missed namāz, (i.e. who does not perform it as soon as possible,) will be subjected to fire (in Hell) for a period of time as long as eighty huqba. At each additional six minutes, the torment incurred becomes worse by twice. With this speed of aggravation it becomes ten times worse in an hour and
two hundred and forty times worse in a day. So, the retribution that has been decreed to be eighty huqba for the posponement of each of the prayers of qadā for the first day, is multiplied by two at each sixth minute, beginning on the day immediately afterwards. Every Muslim who did not begin to perform their daily prayers of namāz as soon as they reached the age of puberty, which is twelve for boys and nine for girls according to the criteria established by Islam should make gada instead of the sunnats of their daily prayers for as long as the number of years between the beginning of pubescence and the time when they began to regularly perform their daily prayers. As it is a grave sin not to perform namāz (five times daily), likewise it is a sin even more grave not to make qadā of one's missed or omitted prayers of daily namāz, and the sin entangled in continues taking a turn for the worse for days on end. A person who leaves a certain daily prayer to gada has to make tawba, not only once for having omitted the prayer, but also at the end of each duration of time, [six minutes,] long enough for the accomplishment of qadā and yet not spent doing so. Among the components making up a consummate tawba to be made for a certain prayer missed or omitted, is to have performed the qadā, i.e. to have paid the debt by performing the missed or omitted prayer. For this reason, whenever Muslims with many debts of namāz perform one of the daily prayers of namāz, they should perform the fard of the earliest omitted namāz instead of the sunnat of the namāz they are currently performing. For, the sunnats of a namāz are not acceptable before its fards omitted have been performed. As they are making qadā of a certain prayer (not performed within its correct time) instead of the sunnat of the prayer (they are currently performing,) they are at the same time performing the sunnat of the current prayer, (since the sunnat of a certain daily prayer means a certain prayer performed before or after the fard part of it with the intention of imitating the Best of Mankind 'sall-Allahu 'alaihi wa sallam' in his supererogatory acts of worship as well. The Most Beloved Slave and the Blessed Messenger of Allāhu ta'ālā 'alaihis-salām' did not intend verbally "to perform sunnat" as he began to perform those additional prayers that we term 'sunnat'. He intended 'to perform a [nāfila] namāz for the sake of Allāhu taālā.' Hence, as we perform the omitted fard prayer we at the same time imitate our Prophet by performing an additional prayer identical in manner, place, time, and number of rak'ats, with the prayer he 'sall-Allahu 'alaihi wa sallam' performed.
Depending
on the number of the standard [six-minute] periods long enough to perform a namāz
and spent in leisure after the earliest daily prayer omitted, a person who
omitted that prayer has gone into a debt of qadā with a multiplier to be
expressed in terms of millions. By the time that person makes qadā of the earliest
one, all the sins thereby accumulated (and multiplied by two at each stage of
deferment) will be forgiven. The importance of performing prayers of qadā must
be realized well. A person who dies without īmān will find no mercy in the
Hereafter; what such people will find is eternal fire in Hell. A Muslim who committed grave sins and died without having
made tawba will be forgiven either by way of shafā'at (intercession) or in
return for his efforts to spread Islam. As a matter of fact, a hadīth-i-sherīf purports:
"A pious deed that Allāhu taālā loves best is hubb-i-fillāh (love for the sake of Allah) and bughdi-fillāh (dislike for the sake of Allah)." A Believer who loves the scholars of
Ahl as-sunnat and the Awliyā will attain the blessings imparted in this hadīth-i-sherīf.
And, attaining the blessings purported in the hadīth-i-sherīf, "A person who recovers one of my
forgotten (or distorted) sunnats will be given thawābs (blessings) equal to the to total sum of the
blessings that will be given to a hundred martyrs," requires selling, (distributing,
dispensing, promulgating) books written by scholars of Ahl-as-sunnat and
thereby contributing to the fortunate deed of apreading Islam in its pristine
purity as it had when it was conveyed and taught by Muhammad 'alaihis-salām'.
All the books published by Hakīkat Kitābevi in Istanbul are facsimiles of works
written by scholars of as-sunnat.]
To perform the sunnat
with the intention of making qadā, you must perform the initial sunnat of the
early afternoon prayer, which has four rakats, by intending to make qadā of
the fard of the earliest early afternoon prayer that you have not performed.
When performing the final sunnat of the early afternoon prayer you must intend
to make qadā of the fard of the first omitted morning prayer. When performing
the sunnat of the late afternoon prayer you must make qadā with the intention
of the fard of the earliest late afternoon prayer. When performing the sunnat
of the evening prayer you must make qadā with the intention of the three-rakat
fard of the earliest evening prayer. When performing the initial sunnat of
night prayer you must intend to make qadā of the fard of the earliest night
prayer, and when performing the final sunnat of the night prayer
you must intend to make
qadā of the earliest omitted Witr prayer and perform three rakats. Thus each
day you will pay the debt of a days qadā. Also when performing the namāz of
tarāwīh you must make qadā by intending to make qadā. You must go on doing this
for as many years as the number of years during which you have left your
prayers to qadā. After finishing your prayers of qadā you must begin performing
the sunnats again. [See chapter 13!]
[Instead of making the namāz of tarāwīh you must
make qadā in your home. For it is written in religious books that a person who
omits the fard prayers will not be given blessings for his sunnat prayers. When
certain people perform the namāz of tarāwīh in jamāat in the mosque of a
quarter or in a house, a person who has debts of qadā namāz or who cannot trust
that the imāms namāz is acceptable performs the namāz of tarāwīh in jamāat in
the mosque in order to guide the young beginners of namāz and to accustom them
to performing namāz and to prevent any gossip or fitna. Yet he does not intend
to follow the imām. He pretends to follow the imām. He makes qadā. If the imām
is making the salām after every two rakats, this person intends to make qadā
of the fard of morning prayers, and if the imām is making the salām at the end
of four rakats, this person intends to make qadā of the fard of other prayers
of namāz. If he cannot conform his actions to the imāms actions, he intends to
perform the Tarāwih and follows the imām.
The number of prayers that could not be performed
and were left to qadā for the prescribed two reasons or because of sleeping and
forgetting is very small, so their qadā can be made up in a day. In this case
it is not necessary to perform the sunnats with the intention of qadā.
Moreover, since it is not sinful to miss them with an excuse, delaying their
qadā long enough to perform the sunnats does not cause one to begin being
sinful.
It is a grave sin not to perform the fard namāz in
its prescribed time without an excuse or because of laziness. After commiting a
grave sin, it is necessary to make tawba
(repent) so that one can be forgiven. A sincere tawba
(repentance) requires four conditions: feeling deep penitence; deciding not to
commit it again; invoking Allahu taālā to forgive you and expressing tawba;
fulfilling the rights of Allahu taālā and His slaves. If any one of these four
conditions is absent, that sin will not be forgiven. Such people must fulfill
the rights of Allahu taālā as soon as possible by performing the sunnats of
four daily prayers with the intention of qadā every day. The
additional sūra is not
recited in the third and fourth rakats of a qadā namāz.
It is written in Imdād
and on the four hundred and fiftieth page of Ibni
Ābidīn: The sunnat is omitted in order not to delay the wājib.
After saying the same thing on its three hundred and sixteenth page, it goes
on, When performing namāz in jamāat, it is fard to follow the imām in actions
that are fard. It is wājib to follow him in the wājibs. And it is sunnat to
follow him in the sunnats. Following the imām means doing the action with him
or after him, or waiting for the imām if you have begun before the imām. For
example, it means to follow the imām to bow for the rukū together with the
imām or to bow after the imām and catch up with him in the rukū or to bow
after the imām straightens up from the rukū or, after bowing and straightening
before the imām (if you have done so), to bow again together with the imām or
after him. If you do not bow again you will not have followed the imām; you will
have omitted the fard, and your namāz will be nullified. And it is wājib again
to act together with the imām in the fards and in the wājibs. If the imām
straightens up from the rukū before a person has said the tasbīh of rukū
three times, it is wājib for him to straighten up together with the imām
instead of completing the tasbīhs. The sunnat must be omitted not to delay the
wājib. For not delaying the wājib it is necessary not to complete the tasbīhs
and to omit that sunnat. The sunnats that are inside namāz are more important
than any sunnat outside namāz. For example, reading the Qurān al-kerīm is sunnat and there are
innumerable blessings in doing it. But it has been declared in a hadīth-i sherīf that there are more blessings in
reciting the Qurān-i kerīm during namāz. The hadīth-i sherīf is written on the twenty-second page
of Khazinat-ul-asrār together with its
proofs. This also should make us realize that it is necessary to omit the
sunnats in order to get rid of a grave sin by making qadā of those prayers of
namāz that have been omitted without an excuse. Nevertheless a person who
performs the sunnats with the intention of making qadā has not omitted the
sunnats by doing so.
As we have explained while describing the namāz in
jamāat in the twentieth chapter, a person who comes to the mosque as the imām
begins conducting the morning prayer performs the sunnat outside the mosque or
behind a pillar inside the mosque. Then he
follows the imām. If he
cannot find such a place that is apart from the jamāat, he must not perform
the sunnat behind the jamāat. He must begin to follow the imām immediately.
For it is mekrūh to begin performing namāz alone as namāz is being performed in
jamāat. The sunnat of morning prayer is omitted in order not to commit a
mekrūh. According to this piece of writing from Durr-ul-mukhtār,
it is necessary to make qadā instead of the sunnats. Since even the strongest
sunnat, the sunnat of the morning prayer, is omitted in order to avoid a
mekrūh, a sunnat must certainly be omitted to avoid a harām. Thus, the namāz of
qadā performed instead of a sunnat saves one from a grave sin.
Some people, particularly people who are
religiously ignorant and who present themselves as men of religion, attempt to
distort the words of great authorities of Islamic knowledge. Yet, because they
know nothing, nor anything based upon any book, they say whatever occurs to
their minds in the name of an objection. Possessing so much pride in
themselves, they make gratuitous assertions. For instance, there are those who
say, No sir, qadā of the fards cannot be made in place of the sunnats. I
cannot accept it. Instead of wasting time sitting for hours in a coffee-house,
let them perform their prayers of qadā. Why should one omit the sunnats! Yes,
the word, Let them perform their prayers of qadā instead of sitting for hours
in the coffee-house, is right. But it is wrong to say, One must not omit the
sunnats in order to make the qadā. It is very sinful not to make the prayers
of qadā and to waste time. Yet to ask a person who has already committed those
sins not to make the qadā instead of the sunnats means to ask him to commit a
third sin. It would be like asking a person who has debts of qadā and who
wastes his time insead of performing his qadā prayers to gamble or to drink
alcohol, too, since he has already sinned. The great saying of our superiors is
well-known: If something cannot be done perfectly, one should not entirely
give it up. Then, a person who has omitted his prayers without an excuse
should not miss the opportunity of making qadā instead of the sunnats and thus
rid himself of this grave sin. As a matter of fact, a person who does not
perform namāz should not give up fasting too.
It is written on the same page of Tahtāwī: The sunnat of morning prayer is very
virtuous. It is enjoined in many hadīth-i sherīfs
to perform it. There are countless blessings in it. But there is
no punishment declared
even for a person who omits the sunnat of the morning prayer. However, it is
declared that a person who performs the fard not in jamāat but alone will go
to Hell. This means to say that the value of jamāat is very much greater than
even the sunnat of the morning prayer.
Ibni Ābidīn says, If a person
comes to the mosque when the imām is in the second rakat of the morning prayer
he must omit the sunnat and follow the imām. For the sunnat cannot equal even
one of the twenty-seven blessings of the fard caused by the jamāat. Since the
strongest sunnat, the sunnat of the morning prayer, is omitted in order to
catch up with the jamāat, it must certainly be omitted in order to perform the
fard. Hence, also, it is understood that in order not to die with debts of qadā
it is necessary to perform the sunnats with the intention of qadā.
Hadrat Abdulqādir-i Geylānī says in the
forty-eighth article of his book Futūh-ul-ghayb,
which was printed in India in 1313 [1896]: A Believer must do the fards first.
When the fards are finished the sunnats must be done. Next he goes on with the
supererogatory. It is idiocy to perform the sunnats while one has debts of
fard. The sunnats of a person who has debts of fard are not acceptable. Alī
Ibni Abī Tālib (radiyallāhu anh) reports: Rasūlullah (sallallāhu alaihi
wasallam) stated: If a person has omitted his fard
prayers and has debts of qadā, his performing the supererogatory is useless
trouble. Unless he pays his qadā, Allāhu taālā will not accept his
supererogatory prayers. Abdulhaq-i Dahlawī, one of the savants of
Hanafī Madhhab, explains this hadīth quoted by Abdulqādir-i Geylānī as follows:
This information shows that the sunnats and the supererogatory prayers of
those who have debts of fards will not be accepted. We know that the sunnats
completment the fards. This means that while doing the fard if something is
omitted which would otherwise have caused the fard to reach perfection then the
sunnats will cause the fard performed to reach perfection. The unacceptable
sunnats of a person who has debts of fards are good for nothing. This
explanation of Futūh-ul-ghayb is in
Persian and exists at number
will be completed with
the supererogatory, and that it does not mean that the supererogatory will
replace the fards that have not been performed. As a matter of fact, another hadīth-i sherīf declares, If
a person has not completed his namāz, his supererogatory prayers of namāz are
added to that namāz until it is completed. He remarks that this
hadīth shows that the supererogatory prayers will complete not those prayers of
namāz that have not been performed but those which have been performed
incompletely. Also, the Tahtāwī
explanation of Imdād quotes a hadīth-i sherīf on its two hundred and forty-seventh
page and points out that the sunnats will make up for the defects in the
performed fards. And the savants who are not in the Hanafī Madhhab, such as
Imām-i Ghazzālī and Ibni Arabī, say that the supererogatory prayers will
replace those fards that have been missed because of good excuses.
It is written in Uyūn-ul-basāir
that Imām-i Bayhakī has said that the sunnats would compensate for the defects
in those fards that have been performed because none of the sunnats could ever
be like e wājib. As a matter of fact, in a hadīth-i qudsī Allāhu taālā
declares: A person can approach Me with none as he
approaches Me by doing the worship which I have enjoined as a fard upon him.
As is seen, according to some Islamic savants, the
supererogatory prayer will make up for the defects in those fard prayers that
have been performed. And some of them say that they will also replace those
fard prayers that have been missed with an excuse. But even those savants do
not say that those who have committed a grave sin by not performing their namāz
because of laziness can make use of that hadīth-i
sherīf. The fact is, the supererogatory prayers of those who do not
perform the fard prayers are not acceptable. How can they ever be good for
completing the fard, then? It is not permissible for us muqallids to set aside
these two different ijtihāds of our savants, which we have communicated, and to
say a third one. Ibni Melek (rahmatullāhi taālā alaih) says in his
explanation of Menār: It has been
declared unanimously by savants that when mujtahids words concerning some
matter about the dīn disagree with one another it is useless for later savants
to explain the matter concerned differently from what the mujtahids have said.
According to this ijmā (unanimity of savants), it
would be silly to say that the supererogatory prayers will replace those fard
prayers that have not been performed because of laziness. A lā-Madhhabī person
who cannot understand the words of mujtahīds or who slights them though he
understands them may talk any twaddle that occurs to him.
In explaining the prayers that are to be recited
after each fard namāz, the book, Marāqil-falāh
and Imdād-ul-fattāh state: The imām
turns towards the jamāat after the fard if there is no supererogatory prayer
to be performed after the fard, or after performing the supererogatory prayer
(if there is any). Durr al-mukhtār
writes, It is mekrūh for the imām to perform the supererogatory prayer where
he performs the fard. He should perform it after moving somewhat to his left. These
statements and the explanation in the book Khazīnat-ul-esrār
show clearly that the prayers that are performed in the name of the sunnat with
the five daily prayers are supererogatory.
Again, it is written in the same book as well as
in the explanation of Tahtāwī: All
sunnats are called supererogatory. Supererogatory means a worship that is
neither fard nor wājib. A supererogatory prayer is either a sunnat or any
worship that a person performs by his own wish. A hadīth-i
sherīf declares: On the day of Judgement
the first question will be asked concerning namāz. If one has performed namāz
properly one will be saved. If namāz has been badly performed one will be in a
very bad situation. If there are any defects in ones fard namāz it will be
made up for by ones supererogatory prayers. A man cannot do
something perfectly no matter how high his grade is. The supererogatory prayers
make up for the mistakes made in the fards.
Shernblālī says in his explanation of Durer, The term supererogatory namāz includes
the sunnats, too. Qādī Imām-i Abū Zayd said that performing supererogatory
namāz was commanded so that the defects in the fard prayers would be
compensated for. If a person can perform the fard without a defect he cannot be
scolded for not performing the sunnats. Ibni
Ābidīn writes in the introduction to the section about the Witr
namāz and performing nāfila namāz on an animal that sunnats,
whether muakkada or ghayr-i muakkada, are called nāfila.
The book Jawhara
says quoting from Hidāya,
It is permissible to
perform the sunnats of five daily prayers sitting without a good excuse. For
these sunnats are supererogatory worships. Ibni Melek says in his explanation
of Majmāul-bahreyn[1], If a person comes to
the mosque and sees that any of the daily prayers, except morning prayer, is
being performed in jamāat, he does not perform the first sunnat but begins
following the jamāat right away. For it is mekrūh to perform a supererogatory
prayer after the iqāmat has been said for the fard prayer. If the iqāmat is
said as he performs the sunnat, he makes the salām after completing two or four
rakats of it, and then begins following the imām. If the iqāmat is said as he
performs the fard of the morning or evening prayer, he stops his fard prayer and
follows the imām. For a prayer that is fard can be stopped in order to perform
it better. It is like demolishing a mosque in order to build a better one. But
the case is not so with stopping a sunnat in order to catch the jamāat.
It is written in the book Al-hikam-ul-Atāiyya[2]: Of two jobs do the
one that comes harder to your nafs! For a job that is right (liked by Allāhu
taālā) comes difficult to the nafs[3] . To try to do the
supererogatory good deeds while being slack in doing the wājibs is one of the
signs of following the desires of the nafs.
As communicated in the forty-sixth chapter of the
First Fascicle, Hadrat Imām-i Rabbānī says, When compared to those worships
that are fard, the supererogatory worships are of no value. They are not even a
drop of water compared to an ocean. The accursed satan is deceiving Muslims by
misrepresenting the fard as insignificant. [He is preventing them from making
their prayers of qadā.] He is misleading them towards the supererogatory
worships. He is preventing them from giving the zakāt and misrepresenting the
supererogatory alms as beautiful. In fact, to give one gold coin to a poor
(Muslim) with the intention of zakāt is much more blessed than giving a hundred
thousand gold coins as alms. For giving the zakāt is performing
---------------------------------
[1] Written by Ibn-is-Sā'atī Ahmad bin Alī Ba'lebekī 'rahmatullāhi ta'ālā' 'alaih', (d. 694 [1294 A.D.].)
[2] Written by Ahmad bin Muhammad ibni Atāullah Tāj-ud-dīn Iskenderī 'rahmatullāhi ta'ālā 'alaih', (d. 709 [1309 A.D.], Egypt).
[3] Nafs is malignant force in man that lures him to do what Allah prohibits and prevents him from doing what Allah commands.
the fard. But giving
without the intention of zakāt is a supererogatory worship. He says in his two
hundred and sixtieth letter, The value of supererogatory worship, when
compared to the fard, is not even like that of a drop of water compared to an
ocean. In fact, so is the value of supererogatory worships in comparison to the
sunnats. However, the vaule of a sunnat compared to a fard is not even like
that of a drop of water compared to an ocean. As understood from all these
statements quoted from Islamic savants, those who have omitted their prayers of
namāz without an excuse must look for ways of escaping Hells torment by making
qadā of them as soon as possible. It does not save one from Hell to make qadā
from time to time by saying, I intend to make qadā of all my ommited prayers.
Islamic savants teach the Sharīat. We must follow not the factious and corrupt
words of kāfirs and bidat-holders, but the Ulamā of Ahl-as-sunnat.
Hadrat Abdulqādir-i Geylānī (Qaddasallāhu sirrahul
azīz) says in the same chapter, A person performing the sunnats while he has
debts of qadā is like a debtor taking a present to the person to whom he owes,
which, normally, is not acceptable. A person who performs the sunnats while he
has debts of qadā is like a person who spends his time with the Sultāns
servant while the Sultān himself has invited him. A Believer is like a
businessman. The fard prayers are his capital of which the supererogatory
prayers are the profit. Unless the capital is rescued they will give no
profit.
Observed with due attention, both the hadīth-i sherīfs and the statements quoted from
savants declare that the sunnats and the supererogatory prayers of a person who
has debts of fard prayers are not acceptable. Not acceptable does not mean not
sahīh. They are sahīh, but they produce no blessings, no use. The book Radd-ul-mukhtār explains this very well within
the subject of Qurbān. In explaining the hadīth, The
hajj and the jihād of a person who commits bidats are not acceptable,
the books Hadīqa and Berīqa say that: Their worships are sahīh, but
they are given no rewards. [See the hadīth which is written at the end of the
thirteenth chapter!]
Some people say, Performing the sunnats with the
intention of qadā is in the Shāfiī Madhhab. We are Hanafīs, not Shāfiīs. It
would be pertinent to remind them that the compiler of this book, Endless Bliss, is in the Hanafī Madhhab, too.
Those Shāfiīs who miss a namāz that is fard because of some excuse make qadā
of it together with its sunnat. But the Hanafīs make qadā of only the
missed fard. The case
is not so with a namāz that has been omitted because of laziness. A Shafiī or
a Hanafī who omits the namāz has to make qadā of it immediately. If he does not
make its qadā immediately he will be punished with hadd,
and killed if he is in the Shāfiī Madhhab. But if he is in the Hanafī Madhhab
he will be put into jail, and will be kept in the dungeon until he makes his
qadā or dies. Hadrat Ibni Hajar-i Mekkī, one of the savants of the Shafiī
Madhhab, says on the hundred and eighty-ninth page of his book Fatāwā-i fiqhiyya, A person who does not perform
a namāz that is fard makes its qadā together with its supererogatory prayer,
that is, its sunnat. For in the Shāfiī Madhhab it is sunnat to make qadā of
supererogatory prayers, that is, the sunnats, which are performed together with
the fards of five daily prayers. If one has omitted the fard without an excuse
one cannot perform any supererogatory prayer before making its qadā because one
has to make qadā of the fard immediately. The time which one spends performing
the sunnats delays the qadā of the fard. To say that one has to make its qadā
means to say that one has to spend his earliest free time making the qadā. That
is, with the exception of the time that one may reserve for earning his
sustenance and the sustenance of those who it is wājib for one to support, it
is not permissible for one to delay the qadā for any other reason, or else one
will become sinful. As it is seen, it is necessary to make qadā of the prayers
of namāz omitted without an excuse immediately in the Shafiī Madhhab as well
as in the Hanafī Madhhab. There is no difference between the two Madhhabs. On
things that are declared clearly in the Qurān
al-kerīm and in hadīth-i sherīfs,
Madhhabs do not disagree with one another. They may disagree on things that are
not declared clearly but which are inferred through ijtihād. It is declared
clearly by a hadīth reported by Hadrat Alī that the supererogatory worships of
those who have debts of fard will not be accepted. When mentioned with the word
fard, the word nāfila (supererogatory)
includes the muakkad sunnats, too. This fact is not only shown by Hadrat
Abdulqādir-i Geylānīs word, but it is also written clearly in the books of
Hanafī savants, e.g. in Halābī-i kebīr.
Some other people say, Qadā is not made instead
of the sunnats. For qadā can be made any time. But a sunnat cannot be
compensated for. To say that qadā is made instead of a sunnat is the word of
those who cannot realise the importance of the
sunnats. It is wrong
to delay the qadā of omitted prayers of namāz by saying that qadā can be made
at any time. For it is a grave sin to delay the performance of qadā. We have
not been commanded to compensate for the omitted sunnats. Why, then, should
there be the question of whether or not it will be possible to compensate for
them? Ibni Ābidīn says on the four
hundred and thirty-third page: A wājib is omitted for reasons prescibed by the
Sharīat. Then a sunnat must certainly be omitted for reasons prescribed by the
Sharīat.
It is written in the book Marāq-il-falāh and its explanation, Tahtāwī: It is tahrīmī mekrūh to perform a
supererogatory namāz after the fard of the morning prayer until sunrise. If you
have not performed the sunnat of the morning prayer beforehand, performing it
is also in the same prohibition. This time is alloted to perform the fard only.
That is, a person who does not perform namāz after the fard until sunrise is
considered to be performing the fard all the time. And this is better than
performing any supererogatory namāz even if it is the sunnat of the morning
prayer. Yet it is not mekrūh to make qadā prayers during that time. To perform
the fard is better than performing the sunnat. And making qadā, in its turn, is
an act of performing a real fard, which is much better. It is also understood
that the sunnats are supererogatory namāz. It is written clearly in Jawhara that the sunnats are supererogatory namāz
and can be performed on an animal without an excuse.
It is written on the same page: When there is
very little time left for a certain daily fard namāz, it is tahrīmī mekrūh to
perform a supererogatory namāz because it causes one to miss the fard. This
would mean to miss the namāz which is necessary by performing the namāz which
is not necessary. This is something which a reasonable person would not prefer.
So is the case with performing a supererogatory prayer as the sun rises, when
it is right on top, or as it sets, even if the supererogatory prayer performed
is one of the sunnats of the five daily prayers. It is written on the hundred
and forty-ninth page of Hadīqa: If
performing the sunnat which is before the fard while there is little time left
will cause the fard to be left to qadā, it is harām to perform the sunnat. It
is written in the subject concerning the afflictions incurred by the tongue:
It is not permissible to omit something which is fard in order to do something
which is not fard.
As is written in many Hanafī books, e.g. in the
books Durr-ul-mukhtār,
Ibni Ābidīn, Durrul-muntaqā, an explanation of the book Multaqā, and in Nimat-i
Islām: A judge or a pupil may omit the sunnat of any namāz except
the sunnat of the morning prayer, the former in order to do his duty and the
latter not be late for his religious class. While a judges duty, which is not
fard-i-ayn, is counted as an excuse for omitting the sunnats, why shouldnt it
be an excuse to pay the debts of qadā, which are fard-i ayn and for which there
will be vehement punishment?
There are countless blessings for those who
perform the sunnats and some supererogatory prayers. Yet these blessings are
for those who do not have any debts of qadā. It is not sensible to perform the
prayers of qadā merely when you have free time while performing the
supererogatory prayers continuously only because there are many blessings in
them. The interpretation of Rūh-ul-beyān
explains the hundred and sixty-fifth āyat of Anām sūra as follows: In order
to encourage His slaves to doing good deeds, Allahu taālā has promised many
blessings. That it has been declared that innumerable rewards will be given for
them does not show that they are better than those worships which are commanded
but for which not many blessings have been promised. As declared unanimously by
savants, the fards are superior to the wājibs and to the sunnats, and there are
more blessings in them. Supererogatory worships do not substitute for those
fard worships that have not been done. The debts for the fards cannot be paid
by doing the supererogatory prayers. The ignorant set aside the fard prayers
and do the supererogatory prayers. Learning that there are limitless blessings
in the supererogatory, they believe they will thus rid their debts for the fards.
Their statements are incompatible with the Sharīat. Zerqānī says in his
explanation of Mawāhib, He who makes
qadā instead of the sunnats gains a profit. He who performs the sunnats instead
of the fard deceives himself. As written on the two hundred and twelfth page
of the Tahtāwī explanation of Nūr-ul-īzāh, Qādīhān
says that performing the sunnat before the fard has been commanded in order to
frustrate Satan, to make him sorry. Satan becomes sorry because he thinks that
he can never deceive man in not doing the fards which Allahu taālā commands
since he cannot deceive man even in the sunnats which Allahu taālā does not
command. This fact is also written in Durr-ul-mukhtār
and in Radd-ul-mukhtār.
In explaining how to make qadā of omitted prayers
in his book
An-nawādir-ul-fiqhiyya
fī Madhhab-il-aimmat-il hanafiyya, copies of which exist at number
His answer was: He will not have omitted the
sunnats. For the purpose in performing the sunnats of the five daily prayers is
to perform another namāz in addition to the fard of each prayer time. Satan
will always try to prevent you from performing namāz. By performing one more
prayer in addition to the fard you will have resisted, disgraced Satan. It is
written in Nawādīr that by making qadā
instead of the sunnats you will have performed the sunnats, too. To fulfill the
sunnat by performing one more prayer in addition to the fard of each prayer
time, those who have debts of qadā must make qadā. Many people are performing
the sunnats instead of making qadā. They will go to Hell. But a person who
makes qadā instead of the sunnats will be saved from Hell.
Ibni Nujaym (rahmatullāhi taālā alaih) states in
Ashbāh: Avoiding prohibitions and
harāms has precedence over doing good and useful things. A hadīth declares: Do my commands as well as you can. Avoid what I have
prohibited! Another hadīth-i sherīf
declares: Not to do a mote of something prohibited
is more blessed than the worships of all people and genies. For
this reason a wājib may be omitted when there is great difficulty. Yet
permission is never given for doing the prohibitions, especially if they are
grave sins. While explaining the istinjā, Ibni
Ābidīn says, If it is impossible for you to clean najāsat without
exposing your awrat parts you must perform namāz in that state. For it is a
command to clean (the najāsat), but it is a prohibition to expose your awrat
parts. Avoiding sins has priority. The sunnats come even after the commands.
The sunnats are fulfilled in order to receive blessings. A sunnat cannot be
performed by doing something that is mekrūh. But a fard can be performed, so
that the debt will be paid. For example, it is mekrūh to make an ablution with
someone
elses water, but the
tahārat, which is fard, can be made. When a person who has an ablution makes an
ablution with someone elses water he does not get the blessings of the
sunnat. This also shows that getting rid of a grave sin by making qadā has
priority over performing the sunnats.
Hadrat Imām-i Rabbānī (rahmatullāhi taālā
alaih) says in his twenty-ninth letter: Deeds that Allahu taālā likes can be
divided into two groups. The first group makes up the fard, which He has
commanded, and the second group consists of those things that are not fard.
They are called nāfila (supererogatory). When compared with the fards, the
supererogatory things are of no value. Doing one fard in its prescribed time,
[or making qadā of it if its prescribed time is over], is better than doing the
supererogatory worships with a pure intention for a thousand years. So is the
case with all supererogatory worships, such as namāz, alms, fasting and dhikr.
In fact, so is the case with observing one sunnat or adab of a fard or with
avoiding one of its mekrūhs when doing a fard. Supererogatory worships done
along with the fards are valuable. Because it is fard to give the zakāt, giving
one gold coin as zakāt is better than giving gold coins as heavy as a mountain
in the name of alms. He says in his one hundred and twenty-third letter: A hadīth-i sherīf declares: A
persons spending his time on mā-lā-yanī signifies that Allahu taālā does not
like him. Mā-lā-yanī means useless deeds. Doing supererogatory
worships instead of doing one fard is spending time on mā-lā-yanī. And he
says in his two hundred and sixtieth letter: Compared with the fard, the
supererogatory worships are not as valuable as a drop of water compared to an
ocean. Likewise is the value of the sunnat when compared to the fard. Please
see the first chapter in the first fascicle.
It is written in the four hundred and
fifty-eighth page of Durr-ul-mukhtār: A
person who wants to perform a supererogatory namāz must first vow to perform
namāz, and then perform the vowed namāz instead of making the supererogatory
namāz. There are also those savants who say that the supererogatory prayers
must be performed without making a vow. A person who performs those prayers of
namāz that are sunnat after vowing them will have performed the sunnats
themselves. Explaining these lines, Ibni Ābidīn
(rahmatullāhi taālā alaih) says, Those savants who say that prayers of namāz
must be performed without vowing mean that they must not be vowed by
stipulating a condition, for otherwise the condition stipulated will have been
made equivalent to a worship. A hadīth-i sherīf
prohibits any vow being dependent upon such a condition, such as: I shall
fulfill my such and such a worship if Allahu taālā restores my (father, etc.)
to health. But the case is not so with vowing worships without stipulating a
condition. It is wājib to perform a vowed prayer; you will be given the
blessings of a wājib. When you perform the vowed namāz instead of the sunnat
you will have performed the sunnat, too. That it is better to vow the sunnats
in advance and then to perform them as vowed namāz is written at the end of the
subject concerning supererogatory prayers in the book Halabī and in the Merāqil-falāh
explanation of Tahtāwī. Thus, if a
person says, May it be my vow to perform a namāz of four rakats, before
performing the sunnat of the early afternoon prayer and then performs it with
the intention of a vowed namāz, he will both get the reward of a wājib and will
have performed the sunnat of early afternoon prayer. Since a born slave will
not have omitted
the sunnat when he
performs the namāz which he has made wājib for himself, he absolutely will not
have omitted the sunnat when he performs the namāz that has been made fard by
Allahu taālā. He will both have made the qadā and have performed the sunnat.
For, it is a grave sin to omit the fard prayers because of laziness. It is fard
to make tawba for every sin immediately. See the final three pages of the first
chapter in the third fascicle of Endless
Bliss, second volume, sixty-seventh
letter!
Those who assert that one cannot intend for
prayers of qadā while performing the sunnats cannot propose any valuable books
to corroborate their antithesis when they are asked why not. Instead, they say
that it is written in Ibnī Ābidīn, in Halabī and in the Imdād
explanation of Tahtāwī that The qadā of
those prayers that have been omitted with fawt must be made up as soon as
possible. Making qadā of prayers omitted with fawt is better and more important
than performing supererogatory prayers, but the case is not so with performing
the sunnats of the five daily prayers and the certain prayers that have been
praised by hadīth-i sherīfs, such as the namāz
of Duhā, the namāz of Tesbīh, the namāz of Tahiyyatulmesjīd, the four rakats
of sunnat before late afternoon prayer and the six rakats of sunnat after
evening prayer. These must be performed with the intention of a supererogatory
prayer. This writing is intended for those who have omitted the fard of the
five daily prayers with fawt[1], that is, for reasons
that could not be helped. It says that the qadā of those prayers that have been
missed thus must not be performed instead of the sunnats, but they must be
performed separately. We agree with this entirely. We accept that there is no
need to make the qadā of a few fard prayers missed with an excuse instead of
the sunnats. For it is not a guilt or sin, we say, to leave namāz to qadā
because of an excuse, nor is it sinful to postpone its qadā until you have
performed the sunnats. But being unable to perform namāz because of an excuse is
different from omitting it knowingly, which means not performing it because of
laziness. The former is not a sin. But the latter is a grave sin. It is quite
wrong to confuse the two cases with each other. Reading in books that the fard
prayers missed with an excuse cannot be performed instead of the sunnats, and
to
---------------------------------
[1] To fail to perform a certain prayer with fawt, means to be unable to perform it within its time for reasons justified by Islam.
suppose thereby that
the fard prayers that have been omitted because of laziness cannot be performed
instead of the sunnats either and, furthermore, to attempt to employ the former
as an evidence, as a proof for the latter, is not worthy of a man of knowledge.
This statement in Hanafī books does not say that those who have committed a
grave sin by not performing the fard prayers because of laziness cannot perform
the sunnats with the intention of qadā. Furthermore, it says that the sunnats
are supererogatory prayers and are to be performed with the intention of a
supererogatory worship. As is written in Jawhara,
books of fiqh in the Hanafī Madhhab state: Qadā of the namāz missed with fawt.
They do not say, Qadā of the namāz omitted. For a Muslim does not omit his
namāz knowingly. He misses it with such excuses as unawareness, sleep or
forgetfulness. The two situations must not be confused with each other.
The importance of the fard prayers has been
declared clearly in Qurān al-kerīm and
in hadīth-i sherīfs. For instance, it is written
in the sixth page of the book Terghībussalāt,
which is in Persian, Our Prophet (sallallāhu
alaihi wasallam) declared: It is a grave sin to
bring two prayers of fard namāz together. That is, it is a grave
sin not to perform a fard in its prescribed time and to perform it later.
Another hadīth-i sherīf declares: Allāhu taālā will keep a person who performs a namāz after
its time is over in Hell for eighty hukbas. This is the punishment
for performing one namāz after its prescribed time. We must try to imagine the
retribution for never performing namāz.
The book Umdat-ul-islām exists in the section of Muhammed Esad Efendi in the library of Süleymāniyye. This book was printed by Hakīkāt Kitābevi in 1989. It is written in that book: Our Prophet (sallallāhu alaihi wasallam) declared, Namāz is the arch-stone of the dīn. He who performs namāz has built up his dīn. He who does not perform namāz has demolished his dīn. He declared in a hadīth-i sherīf, On the Day of Judgement, after īmān the first question will be on namāz. Allāhu taālā will declare: O My slave, if you get over your account of namāz, safety is yours. I shall facilitate your other accounts! Our Prophet (sallallāhu alaihi wassalam) declared: A person who omits one namāz knowingly without an excuse will remain in Hell for one hukba. One hukba is eighty years, and one day in the next world is as long as a thousand worldly years. At it is seen, a person who omits one fard without an excuse will burn in Hell for eighty times three hundred and sixty-
five thousand years.
[It is written on the five hundred and tenth page of Medārij-un-nubuwwa and on the one hundred and eighteenth page of
Marifatnāma: The purpose of giving
such eminent examples is not to give the number but to demonstrate the
greatness and the importance of the number.] Then, shame upon those who do not
perform namāz because of laziness or without an excuse! Our savants say
unanimously that A person who does not perform namāz is not acceptable as a
witness. For a person who does not perform namāz is a sinner. The fard namāz is
a debt which a Believer owes to Allahu taālā. He cannot rid himself of the
debt unless he performs it during its prescribed time. It is written in the
book Aqīdatunnejāh: If a person makes
tawba-i nasūh his sins will be pardoned. Unless he makes qadā of his prayers of
namāz they will not be pardoned only by making tawba. If he makes tawba after
making qadā of his prayers, there is the hope that he will be pardoned.
Ibni Nujaym Zayn-ul-Ābidīn says in his book Kabāir wa saghāir, It is a grave sin to perform
the fard namāz [by trusting the time-table arranged incorrectly on a false
calendar] before its time begins or after its time is over. A grave sin is
pardoned only by making tawba. There are a number of things that will have
small sins pardoned. When making tawba, one has to make qadā for the prayers of
namāz which one has omitted. Those savants who said that an accepted hajj would
clear away grave sins did not say that the qadā of the omitted prayers would
not be necessary. They meant that the sin of delaying namāz without an excuse
until its time was over would be pardoned. It is necessary to make the qadā,
too. If one does not make the qadā though one is able to make the qadā, one
will have committed another grave sin. Namāz will be deemed to have been
performed during its prescribed time if a Hanafī Muslim says takbīr of tahrīma
before the time is over. But a Shafiī or Malikī Muslim is not considered to
have performed the namāz unless one rakat of namāz has been completed before
the time is over. It will be considered a small sin if namāz can not be
completed within its prescibed time.
It is written in Durr-ul-muntaqā,
A person who does not recognize namāz as a duty, who disbelieves the fact that
it is fard, becomes a disbeliever. Those who become Muslim in a country of
renegades and disbelievers do not have to make qadā of the prayers of namāz
which they had not performed until they
learned that it is fard
to perform namāz.
It is written in the subject concerning the
intentions of namāz in Ibni Ābidīn and
on the twenty-sixth page of Fatāwā-i kubrā,
If a person performs prayers of namāz for years but does not know which ones
are first sunnats and which are final sunnats and if he performs them all with
the intention of a fard, all of them will be accepted. For if the sunnats are
performed with the intention of a fard they will be accepted as sunnats. The
one which he has performed first in every prayer time becomes the fard. The one
which he has performed next becomes the sunnat. It is written in Halabī-i saghīr, If a person realizes that there
has been a defect in all the prayers of namāz which he has been performing for
years, that is, if one of the twelve conditions of namāz is missing it will
be good if he makes qadā of them all. If there has not been any defects in
them, to make qadā of them is mekrūh according to some savants and not mekrūh
to other savants. Those savants who said that it would not be mekrūh said that
one must not perform those prayers of qadā after morning and late afternoon
prayers or else all of them would be supererogatory [if one did not have any prayers
of qadā to perform].
It is written in the book Ashbāh: The fatwā which is sahīh, dependable,
shows that it is not necessary to intend for a sunnat when performing the first
and final sunnats of the five prayers, that is, the muakkad sunnats. The prescribed
sunnats will be sahīh when performed with the intention of a supererogatory
namāz or even only with the intention of namāz. That is, they will be the
sunnats of the times within which they are performed. It is not necessary to
intend specifically for the sunnats. Imām-i Zaylaī (rahmatullāhi taālā
alaih) said likewise. For example, if you perform two rakats of namāz before
dawn with the intention of tahajjud (midnight prayer) and then later find out
that dawn had already broken before you performed it, this namāz stands for the
sunnat of the morning prayer. It is not necessary to perform the sunnat of the
morning prayer again. If after sitting for the fourth rakat of the fard of
early afternoon prayer you forget (to make the salām) and stand up for the
fifth rakat, you make the salām after making the sixth rakat. The two rakats
will become a supererogatory prayer. The reason why these two rakats are not
sunnats is not because you have not intended to perform the
sunnat, but because you
have not begun the sunnat with a separate takbīr. Also, there is a dependable
report that it is not necessary to intend for tarāwih when you are performing
the tarāwīh. Likewise, if a person who does not have any early afternoon
prayers left to qadā intends to perform the last early afternoon prayer which
he has not performed though he has reached its time as he performs the four
rakats after Friday prayer and if he finds out later that the Friday prayer
has been sahīh, these four rakats, according to a dependable and sahīh report,
become the sunnat of Friday prayer. It is written in its fifty-ninth page, We
have already stated that when supererogatory prayers and the prescribed sunnats
are performed with the intention of namāz only, or of any kind of namāz other
than the sunnats, they will be sahīh. As it is seen, any namāz performed
during the time of one of the five daily prayers of namāz in addition to the
times fard namāz causes you to attain the blessings of the sunnat of the
times namāz.
It is written on the fifty-fourth page of the book
Uyūn-ul-basāir and in Ibni Ābidīn, in the chapter related to the
intention of namāz: According to profoundly learned savants, a sunnat
performed with the intention of namāz only becomes sahīh. For, the sunnats of
five daily prayers means the namāz performed by our Prophet
(sallallāhu alaihi wa sallam). It was afterwards that those prayers of namāz
were named sunnats. When performing the sunnats of the five daily prayers,
Rasūlullah (sallallāhu alaihi wa sallam) used to intend, To perform namāz for
Allahs sake. He did not use to intend, To perform the sunnat. Any namāz
performed so in every prayer time becomes the namāz which is called sunnat.
Similarly it is written in Halabī-yi kebīr,
too. It is written in its fifty-second page that, as it is communicated in the
book Tajnīs, the sunnats of the five
daily prayers are supererogatory namāz and can be performed with the intention
of a supererogatory worship, too. It is written in Durr-ul-mukhtār,
and also in the book Durer by Molla
Husraw, The sunnats of five daily prayers and the namāz of tarāwih are
originally supererogatory prayers. When performing them an intention for namāz
only will suffice.
It is written in Ibni
Ābidīn and in the explanation of Nūr-ul-īzāh,
It is sunnat to perform two rakats of namāz before you sit down after
entering a mosque. This is called the namāz of Tahiyyatulmasjid.
When you enter a mosque, if you perform the fard, the sunnat, or any other
namāz, you will have performed the
tahiyyatulmasjid, too.
The namāz that is performed does not need the special intention of
tahiyyatulmasjid. For the purpose of performing the tahiyyatulmasjid is to
respect Allāhu taālā, who is the owner of the mosque. And the namāz which you
perform serves this purpose.
While explaining the
namāz of Tahiyyatulmasjid, Ibni Ābidīn rahmatullāhi taālā alaih says,
When beginning the fard of the early afternoon prayer, if you make two
intentions, one for the fard and one for the sunnat, you will have performed
the fard only. But according to Imām-i Muhammad the namāz will not be accepted.
For the fard and the sunnat are two different kinds of namāz. According to the
two imāms, you have performed the more important one. Because any namāz which
you perform after you enter a mosque stands for the namāz of tahiyyatulmasjid,
it is permissible to intend for the namāz of tahiyyatulmasjid while performing
a fard prayer, according to Imam-i Muhammad as well. When you intend for the
fard, too, you will have been deemed to have performed both the fard and the
sunnat. Even though the times fard and sunnat are different from each other,
because of the fact that the sunnat means all the other prayers except the
fard, the similarity between the sunnat and the qadā prayer is like the
similarity between tahiyyatulmasjid and the fard.
It is stated in the thirtieth page of Ashbāh, A worships causing thawāb does not
require its being sahīh. A sincere and true intention is a must. If a worship
performed with a sincere and true intention becomes fāsid inadvertently, it
will not be sahīh. However, because one has made niyyat (true intention), it
will cause much thawāb. For instance, a namāz performed without an ablution
though one thinks one has had an ablution will not be sahīh. Yet one will be
given much thawāb in return for ones niyyat. If a person finds some najs water
and yet thinks it is clean and makes an ablution with it and performs namāz,
his namāz will not be sahīh because one of its conditions has not been fulfilled;
however, he will be given thawāb owing to
his intention. On the
other hand, a namāz that is sahīh because it has been performed with all its
conditions fulfilled will not be given any thawāb if it has been performed for
ostentation. A person who makes qadā instead of a namāz that is sunnat will
not have omitted the sunnat; yet, for attaining thawāb for the sunnat as well,
he should make niyyat, that is, pass through his heart the intention to perform
the sunnat as well, as he makes the qadā.Because a namāz that is
fard is different from one which is sunna, it is not permissible to make niyya
also to perform a namāz that is sunnat as you perform a namāz that is fard. The
sunnat performed in this way is not sahīh. Yet, since a (fard) namāz being
performed (after its prescribed time is over and which therefore is known) as
qadā and a namāz that is sunnat are not different from each other, (for they
are in the same category,) it is sahīh to add the performance of a namāz that
is sunna to your intention as you perform a namāz of qadā.
Let
us take a Muslim who has not performed his daily prayers of namāz for years,
and eventually decides to make qadā of the prayers which he has omitted. There
are three ways whereby he can do so:
1-He
can always perform namāz of qadā instead of the sunnats of five daily prayers
as well as during his leisure time daily.
2-He can perform qadā only instead of the daily sunnats.
3-He
can perform qadā always, but only, dUring his daily leisure time, and not
instead of the daily sunnats. The first choice is the best of all three of
them. Thereby the debts of qadā will have been paid in the fastest way. The
second way is not preferrable in so far as his main concern is to wipe out his
debts of qadā soon. Into the bargain, as long as a person has debts of qadā,
the sunnats he performs will not be given any thawāb. However, he will be wiser
to perform prayers of qadā instead of the sunnats than to not perform them at
all. For, it is advised by our superiors that "when you cannot do all of
something good you should at least do as much of it as you can, instead of
foregoing your gain altogether." As for the third choice; it is for
someone who has failed to perform a certain prayer or prayers of namāz within
its or their time for (reasons which Islam recognizes as excuses and terms)
'udhr. For, it is not sinful for that person to delay the performance of qadā
for as long as the time he is to spend performing the sunnat(s). Some people
think and talk better of
the third choice than the second choice. However,
if a person would be able to make the third choice, then he would be capable of
the first choice as well. Hence, people who omitted their prayers of namāz for
months should calculate the prayers that they omitted, and perform them in the
first way described above, or at least in the second way, and thereby pay their
debts of qadā as soon as possible, which in turn will save them from Hell.
If a person without any
debts of qadā makes qadā instead of a namāz which is sunnat, his namāz becomes
supererogatory. We have stated earlier that the thawāb for a supererogatory
namāz is quite insignificant when compared to the thawāb for a namāz that is
sunnat.
Shaikh-ul-Islām Ahmad bin Suleymān bin Kemāl Pāsha
(rahmatullāhi taālā alaih), in his book Sharh-i
hadīth-i arbaīn, explains the hadīth-i
sherīf, My shafāat has become harām for
one who omits my sunnat, as follows:
In this hadīth-i sherīf
the word sunnat means the way of Islam. For even if a Believer commits a grave
sin he will not be deprived of (the Prophets)
shafāat. A hadīth declares, I shall do shafāat
(intercede) for those who have committed grave
sins. It is necessary to obey the Sharīat which Rasūlullah
(sallallāhu alaihi wasallam) brought from Allāhu taālā. A person who abandons
this cannot attain shafāat. It is written in the book Shirat-ul-Islām, The sunnat in this hadīth-i sherīf denotes things that are wājib to do.
And this is the way followed by the Sahāba, by the Tābiīn and by the Tabai
tābiīn (rahmatullāhi taālā alaihim ajmaīn). Those who hold fast to this
sunnat are called the Ahl-as-Sunnat.
Then, the meaning of the hadīth is that those who disagree with the
Ahl-as-Sunnat in facts to be believed and in actions to be done or to be
avoided will not attain the shafāat. See Second Volume, 19th Letter, in the
fourth chapter of the third fascicle of Endless
Bliss.
[Also, the hadīth-i sherīf,
At a time when fitna and depravity are widespread
among my Ummat, a person who holds fast to my sunnat will attain the blessings
of a hundred martyrs, means: A person who follows instructions
according to the Sharīat as it was during the time of the Salaf-i sālihīn will
attain the blessings of a hundred martyrs.] It is written in Riyād un-nāsihīn while explaining the importance
of namāz, Imām-i Nasīr-ud-Dīn Sayyid Abul-Qāsim Samarqandī says, This hadīth-i sherīf means that when fitna and depravity
are widespread among the
Ummat, a person who has
the itiqād (belief) of Ahl-i sunnat wal jamāat and who performs the five
daily prayers in jamāat will attain the blessings of a hundred martyrs. For
this reason, one must first have īmān agreeing with that of the Ahl-as-Sunnat,
then avoid the harāms, then do the fards, then avoid the mekrūhs, then do the muakkad
sunnats, and then do the mustahabs. If a person does not do something which is
earlier in this order it will be futile for him to do something which is later,
and in order to do something which is earlier it is permissible and even
necessary for him to omit something that comes later. For example, it will be
useless in the Hereafter for a person without īmān to avoid sinning and for a
person who keeps committing harāms to do the fard. And it is useless for a
person who does not do any of these to grow a beard. For growing a beard is the
last in the order mentioned above. Nor can one say that it is bidat to shave
your beard. For bidat means to do something in the name of worship, that is,
in order to get blessings, though it has not been commanded by the Sharīat. No
Muslim shaves his beard in order to get blessings. A Muslim knows that it is
mekrūh to shave ones beard. He knows that it is permissible to shave ones
beard in order to do a more important religious duty, and thus he obeys the
Sharīat, the sunnat.
It is written in Bahr-ur-rāiq
and in the chapter about things that will not break a fast in the Tahtāwī explanation of Durr-ul-mukhtār: It is mekrūh to put some ointment on your
moustache or beard in order to ornament yourself. It is not mekrūh when you do
it for jamāl, that is, to remove any ugliness or to protect your dignity and
honour. If adornment takes place when you do something for jamāl though you do
not intend for adornment, it will be acceptable. Also, it is mubāh (permitted)
and good to wear new, lovely clothes for jamāl. Yet it is harām to wear them
for arrogance. If your behaviour does not change when you wear them, it will be
understood that they are not for arrogance. If the length of your beard is as
prescribed by the sunnat, it is tahrīmī mekrūh to put ointment on it in order
to grow it longer. The length of the beard as prescribed by the sunnat is a
small handful. It is wājib to clip off that part of the beard exceeding a small
handful. The hadīth-i sherīf, Grow your beard! does not mean, Grow it longer
than a small handful. It means, Do not grow your beard shorter than a
handful, or, Do not shave it altogether. The transmittor of this hadīth,
Abdullah Ibni Umar (radiyallāhu anhumā), clipped off that part of his
beard exceeding a small
handful. Not one savant said that it was mubāh to have a beard shorter than a
small handful. Shaving the beard is a custom of fire-worshippers and Indian
Jews. It is harām to make yourself look like disbelievers. As it is seen, savants
say that it is sunnat to grow a beard. Those who say that it is wājib are
contradicting the Jumhūr (Islamic savants consensus) by saying so. It is harām
to keep your beard shorter than a small handful or to shave it entirely in
order to be like disbelievers or women. It is mekrūh if you do so not to be
like them but to follow the custom in your country. It is bidat to say that a
beard that is shorter than a small handful is sunnat. If a person slights the
sunnat he becomes a disbeliever. It is written in Islamic books that it is
permissible, and even necessary, to give up the sunnat when you have a
prescribed excuse.]
It is written on the seventy-first, three hundred
and nineteenth, four hundred and thirty-third, and four hundred and fifty-third
pages of Ibni Ābidīn: A person who
esteems and values the sunnats of prayers of namāz but who omits them often
without an excuse or because of laziness will be scolded. But he will not be
deprived of shafāat. The hadīth-i sherīf, He who omits the sunnat which is before the early afternoon
prayer will not attain my shafāat means, A person who omits it
insistently without an excuse will not get my shafāat which is for this namāz
and which will serve for his promotion. It is written in Ibni Ābidīn and in the two hundred and third page
of the Tahtāwī explanation of Imdād that omitting it with some excuse will not
prevent the shafāat. Besides, when performed with the intention of qadā, the
sunnats will not have been omitted.
It is written in the three hundred and
ninety-sixth page of Ibni Ābidīn and in
the one hundred and twelfth page of Majmaul-anhur:
When a person performing a supererogatory namāz follows the imām who is
performing the fard, it is not fard for him to say the additional sūras in the
third and fourth rakats, but it is supererogatory. For this namāz of his has
taken the shape of a fard. This comes to mean that when making qadā instead of
the sunnats it is not fard to say the additional sūras in the third and fourth
rakats. It is written in the one hundred and third page of Uyūn-ul-basāir, It is written in Tātārhāniyya that a person who does not know
whether or not he has any prayers of namāz left to qadā had better say the
additional sūras in the sunnats of the early afternoon, late-afternoon, and
night prayers. The meaning of this
is that it is better
for him to intend for qadā when performing the sunnats and to say the
additional sūras.
It is written in detail in the 14 Zilqada, 1388
[1969] issue of a periodical named Eshshihāb
published in Beirut that the virtuous Hadrat Rāmiz-ul-mulk, the superintendent
of fatwā in Tripoli, has given the fatwā that it is permissible to make qadā
instead of the sunnats when performing the fard.