What is your guidance for doctors who delay the prayer until its time has sometimes passed, and who leave the congregational prayer on the pretext of patients and their examination appointments?

The questioner : In truth, the issue is also important, and it concerns the prayer. As for our brothers the doctors, they do not come to the congregational prayer except those whom Allah has shown mercy, on the pretext that they have an appointment, or that they are with patients who are following a specific system that requires them to see them at that time. Some of the brothers may delay the midday prayer until the afternoon prayer, and the afternoon prayer until just before the sunset prayer. He says: "My brother, I am busy all this time." He returns home before the sunset prayer, and the sunset prayer may catch up with him, so he prays it all at once at home. What is the ruling on this, and I hope for a word to the brothers on this subject?

The Shaykh : We seek help from Allah. In truth, if any of this is found, it is a reversal of the rulings of the Shari'ah and a weakening of faith in some of the texts from the Book and the Sunnah. In my belief, it is not hidden from any of these doctors mentioned, nor from others; it is not hidden from all of them that Allah the Exalted said: : a Book with a fixed time, having a first time and a last time. And I also think it is not hidden from them that when Allah Mighty and Majestic obligated some of the obligations upon His servants, such as the five prayers, for example, in every day and night, that is not because He is in need of their worship. How so, when in the Holy Hadith narrated by Imam Muslim in his *Sahih* from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), he said: , a long hadith, at the end: . If this is also known and established in the beliefs of the Muslims, as the Lord of the Worlds said: , then it is obligatory for the Muslim to preserve the prayer, to perform it in its time, for his own benefit, and not because his Lord is in need of his prayer, as you heard in the Holy Hadith. And let him not think that the prayer which the one obligated to perform it takes out of its time, that he has the choice to pray it whenever he wishes, because this obligation from Allah is a test for the servants of Allah. So whoever performs the prayer in its time, it is accepted from him; otherwise, it will not be accepted from him even if he prays it multiplied times. And they must remember the following truth:
That whoever prays the prayer after its time is like whoever prays it before its time. So whoever prays it before its time, it is not the prayer that he was commanded to pray in its time. So likewise, if he prays it after its time, it will not be that prayer that he was commanded to pray in its time. Do not be deceived. There is no such thing as making up (qada') in prayer or in fasting, because prayer and fasting are two time-bound acts of worship. The prayers are in the five known times, and fasting is in the month of Ramadan. So whoever intentionally breaks the fast of Ramadan will not make it up by fasting the whole year, even if he fasts it. Likewise, whoever takes a prayer out of the five prayers from its time, let him not blame but himself. And reflect with me, at the end, on the outcome of one who misses a prayer for himself. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: , as if he had destroyed his family, meaning: his self, his family, and his wealth. So which of the Muslims is satisfied, because of his being busy with his work, his medicine, his craft, to be like one who has destroyed his family, his self, and his wealth? The research in this is long, and this is sufficient, and praise be to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds.