Recordings › If you have missed prayers? & not to obsess over punishments - Mufti Abu Layth Al-Maliki · 13 Feb 2018 › Segment 1 of 1
What happens if I miss a prayer?
salah salat salaah namaz salaat namaaz as-salah al-salah salawat hadeeth ahadith ahaadeeth hadis hadees ahaadith fajar salat al-fajr fajr prayer dawn prayer fatwah fatawa fatwaa fataawa legal opinion muftis hukm ahkam hukum hukam ahkaam haraam forbidden wajib waajib wajibat sunna sunnat sunan prophetic practice jahannam jahanam jahannum koran quraan al-quran sahabah sahaba sahabiyyah sahabiyat companions madinah madina al-madinah madeenah yathrib ulama ulema ulamaa bismillah ir-rahman ir-rahim bismillahir rahmanir rahim bismillahi bismillah al-rahman al-rahim deen al-din ad-deen ad-din rahmah rahma rahmatMissed prayers: make them up and stop obsessing over punishments
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This segment0:00 to 6:54 · 6 min 54 sGeneral teaching
The answer in brief
machinesummary, machine-writtenA missed prayer is made up; Mufti Abu Layth says to stop obsessing over punishments and just pray the obligatory prayers, even late or together. He cites the Prophet telling a companion whose people slept past sunrise simply to pray when he woke up.
In more detail
Asked what the punishment for missing a prayer is, Mufti Abu Layth answers that one makes it up, and says people need to stop obsessing over punishments: one can mine the Quran and Sunnah for that angle, but he does not believe it is the heart of Islam's message, which is rather to ask why one would not pray, since the obligatory prayers take little time and are one's connection with the Creator, so a person should pray them even late, even all together before sleeping. He supports this with the report of a companion, whom he believes was Safwan [?], whose wife complained to the Prophet about him and added that he did not wake for Fajr; the companion answered that his people did not wake until after sunrise, a habit Mufti explains as the agricultural culture of warm climates, and the Prophet simply told him to pray when he woke up. He says scholars today are too scared to give such a fatwa and bend over backwards to explain the report by a medical condition or a battle injury, whereas the man said it was his people's way and the Messenger himself gave the ruling. He concludes that for ordinary people who do not pray much, praying the obligatory prayers even combined is better than not praying, that he advises against the punishment-and-hellfire approach although such rulings exist, and that the Prophet's way was encouragement and optimism; punishment makes one fear Allah, but Allah constantly reminds us of his mercy in the bismillah.
Question as read aloud · questioner not identifiedWhat is the punishment of missing a prayer?
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Position stated
Mufti Abu Layth holds that the heart of Islam's message on prayer is encouragement rather than punishment: a missed prayer is made up, and praying the obligatory prayers even late or combined is better than not praying, as the Prophet told the companion whose people slept past sunrise to pray when he woke.
“I don't believe that that is the true the kind of message that the heart of the message of Islam the message of Islam is look why don't you want to pray”
Category: teaching
Kind: general teachingTranscript
machine0:00 to 6:54 · click a time to seek · dotted terms open the glossary
what is the punishment of missing a prayer well making it up listen people we need to stop obsessing with all these punishments punishments punishments okay sure if you look through the Quran and Sunnah you can find that angle if you want to focus on that angle like if you want to go kind of mining out these kind of quotations to build a perspective like that you can do it but I don't believe that that is the true the kind of message that the heart of the message
of Islam the message of Islam is look why don't you want to pray it doesn't take long at the very least pray the for I pray the obligatory prayers even if you're late just pray it's the obligatory prayer it's it's your connection with your Creator what's the big deal it doesn't take too much time if you've missed it to make it up you know if you if you had such a busy day and you didn't pray or here's somebody who doesn't pray much and it's before you're going to sleep just pray pray the obligatory prayers of all of the variety
then just go to sleep now you might think you know you might think well oh my god oh my god but really is this not how the Prophet dealt with people I tell you let me share a hadith with you people as Sahabi a companion came to the Prophet SAW for an evening mister I believe it was the so fun evening mister but a companion came to the prophet sallallaahu leave us alone and ease his wife actually came to complain about him
I've shared this before previously and as it goes so obviously they were newly married and I think it probably been a little while and she went and she complained and said oh the you know to the Prophet he doesn't do this and he stops me from doing this and he stops me from being and Ando and he doesn't even wake up to pray his sword to subha he doesn't even praise forger can you love those kind of criticisms by the way the religious ones they like it doesn't
even pray and like so so now the Prophet calls this companion and he says to him look don't stop her from doing this and don't stop her from doing that and that's fine and I think she mentions two or three things and two things in it and the third thing he says and what's this I'm hearing that you don't pray so you don't pray so bad so listen I want you to listen to the response the person gives he says that you're a soul Allah ya Messenger of Allah he says in now Coleman lana stately tho elaborate
elevations he says we are a people like our kind of tribe I was subscribed that that tribe he was from from the outskirts of medina he said we are people we don't wake up till after sunrise most Arabs used to wake up at dawn this and it still is a culture this is a culture in huge parts of the Muslim world and not even just the Muslim world huge parts of the world way especially with in warmer climates so people wake up with his agriculture they wake up around dawn they get ready and then then they go out and they work in the fields
and they farm and then it gets too hot so they have to go and rest so this is a cultural regardless of religion now he said but his people may sent they're my people he was like my people his people do not wake up until after sunrise he said that's the the that's the kind of hobby now tell me couldn't the Prophet have said that will fix your habit goddamnit could the Prophet sister couldn't the Prophet have said yeah well you know that's not gonna be very comfortable when you're thrown in the fire of hell
that would cook couldn't Ruffy could have said to him yeah but that's Haram that's cool for that's know what did the Prophet say the Prophet said he said he said I either stay put so suddenly he said okay when you wake up pray sallallahu alayhi wa messenger of god rahmatan lil Alamein a mercy a paragon of mercy for the world's people today scholars are too scared to give that
kind of fatwa most scholars will interpret this hadith and bend over backwards to interpret these hadith and they will say oh the person had a medical condition and the person had he was hit in a battle and that's why he used to have heavy sleep and but the hadith he says all my people I say well fine you don't need to give the photo up because the Messenger of Allah Himself gave the ruling Allah so this is how I say look this is for the normal people no more people most people don't pray so
I would say to them look if you pray like even if you're only gonna pray the obligatory prayers the font to fold and for even if you're gonna pretty even if you're gonna pray them to hear that just pretty them together I mean I'm not saying that's the advisable but just do it's better than not doing it it's awesome look I advise people not to focus on the kind of punishment punishment negative everything Hellfire all this kind of approach what I read Islam I I recognized those rulings do exist those kind of discussions do exist but I see that that's not how the
Prophet used to do things that it was about encouragement it was about positivity it was about optimism right so punishment makes us fear Allah yes it does that but I don't you see to me Allah is constantly reminding us of his mercy bismillah ar-rahman ar-rahim so that's how I know God
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Cite this segment
Stable id, transcript version and tier are part of the citation. Every change to a transcript is logged.Mufti Abu Layth Archive, segment 2018-02-13-S01, auto-transcribed, may contain errors. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/g0igietcklk/s/1/ (accessed 1 November 2026)
- APA 7
Mufti Abu Layth. (2018, February 13). What happens if I miss a prayer? [Video, segment 2018-02-13-S01, auto-transcribed, may contain errors]. Mufti Abu Layth Archive. Retrieved November 1, 2026, from https://muftiabulayth.org/r/g0igietcklk/s/1/
- Chicago author-date
Mufti Abu Layth. 2018. "What happens if I miss a prayer?" Video, segment 2018-02-13-S01, auto-transcribed, may contain errors. Mufti Abu Layth Archive. Recorded February 13, 2018. Accessed November 1, 2026. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/g0igietcklk/s/1/
- BibTeX
@misc{abulayth-2018-02-13-S01, author = {Mufti Abu Layth}, title = {{What happens if I miss a prayer?}}, year = {2018}, month = {2}, date = {2018-02-13}, howpublished = {\url{https://muftiabulayth.org/r/g0igietcklk/s/1/}}, url = {https://muftiabulayth.org/r/g0igietcklk/s/1/}, organization = {Mufti Abu Layth Archive}, urldate = {2026-11-01}, note = {Segment 2018-02-13-S01, auto-transcribed, may contain errors} }
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