What is the expiation for one who abandoned prayer and fasting for years and does not know the number of days?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner:
May Allah reward you? The questioner says: I pray and fast, praise be to Allah, but before that I was negligent in prayer and fasting, and I do not know how many days I was negligent in, so what is required of me after repentance? And may Allah reward you with good.
The Shaykh:
What is he saying?
The questioner:
He says: I pray and fast, praise be to Allah, but before that I was negligent in prayer and fasting, and I do not know how many days I was negligent in, so what is required of me after repentance? And may Allah reward you with good.
The Shaykh:
If you did not pray, if you did not pray while intentionally abandoning the prayer, you are not upon the religion even if you fasted. You do not pray, so your fasting is not valid. Fasting is not valid for one who abandons the prayer, because the prayer is more emphasized than fasting; it is the second pillar, and fasting is the fourth pillar. So fasting is not valid for one who abandons the prayer. If you were abandoning the prayer, whether you fasted or did not fast, your fasting has no value. So you must repent to Allah and maintain the prayer and fasting in the future. As for what has passed, you do not make it up.
May Allah reward you? The questioner says: I pray and fast, praise be to Allah, but before that I was negligent in prayer and fasting, and I do not know how many days I was negligent in, so what is required of me after repentance? And may Allah reward you with good.
The Shaykh:
What is he saying?
The questioner:
He says: I pray and fast, praise be to Allah, but before that I was negligent in prayer and fasting, and I do not know how many days I was negligent in, so what is required of me after repentance? And may Allah reward you with good.
The Shaykh:
If you did not pray, if you did not pray while intentionally abandoning the prayer, you are not upon the religion even if you fasted. You do not pray, so your fasting is not valid. Fasting is not valid for one who abandons the prayer, because the prayer is more emphasized than fasting; it is the second pillar, and fasting is the fourth pillar. So fasting is not valid for one who abandons the prayer. If you were abandoning the prayer, whether you fasted or did not fast, your fasting has no value. So you must repent to Allah and maintain the prayer and fasting in the future. As for what has passed, you do not make it up.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، ما كفارة من ترك الصلاة والصيام لسنوات ولا يعلم عددها؟ للشيخ الفوزان — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.