Fiqh of Hadith: Making Up a Missed Salah
by Sh. Kifah Mustapha
عن أنس بن مالك رضي الله عنه عن النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم قال: (من نسي صلاة فليصل إذا ذكرها لا كفارة لها إلا ذلك وأقم الصلاة لذكري). رواه البخاري.
Anas Ibn Malek (RAA) narrated that the prophet (PBUH) said, "Whoever forgets a prayer, let him pray (it) when he remembers it, there is no atonement for it but that. And perform prayers for my remembrance." Hadith narrated by Imam Bukhari.
 When the prophet (PBUH) came from the battle of Khaibar, the Sahabah were tired, so he told Bilal to wake them for Fajr prayer. Bilal overslept and did not wake them. The first one who woke up after sunrise was the prophet (PBUH). He then asked Bilal, "Why didn’t you wake us up?" Bilal replied saying he had fallen asleep like everyone else. Sahabah started asking what to do since they missed praying on time. The prophet’s response was the aforementioned hadith: "Whoever forgets a prayer, let him pray (it) when he remembers it, there is no atonement for it but that. And perform prayers for my remembrance."Lessons learned from this Hadith:
1. Regardless of the reason for missing Salah, it must be performed later on.
2. It is preferred to perform the Salah at the time you remember that you missed it without delay.
3. Some people believe they should delay the Salah until the next day at the same time of the prayer they missed, for example, to pray the missed Zuhur with current Zuhur, but that is not acceptable. The Hadith is clear about praying it when you remember without delay.
4. The order of the prayers must be kept. For example, if you missed Zuhur, even though the Asr Salah has been called, you must pray Salat ZUHUR first and then ASR. Even if you were in the Masjid, you will intend ZUHUR behind the Imam even though he is praying ASR, and then you would pray ASR on your own.
5. The last phrase of the Hadith is an Ayah from Surat Taha directed to Musa (AS). Scholars elaborated that the Prophet’s quote of this ayah here in this Hadith is the ruling in the Quran about previous messages (like the one of Musa) is a ruling for us if no new ruling in our religion is mentioned.
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