A young man who did not pray, then repented, and praise be to Allah; does he have to make up the missed prayers?

The questioner : A young man who was not praying, and then... meaning he repented and started praying, of course, the prayer in its times. The period he was not praying; is it permissible for him to make it up by estimation, meaning; he didn't pray for two years; does he make up a previous time with each current time? Is it permissible for him?

The Shaykh : This kind of prayer cannot be made up, and this is one of the illusions that many repentant young people live with. Our Lord - Mighty and Majestic - as every Muslim knows, said in the Noble Qur'an: , the meaning of is: timed at the beginning and the end. The times of the five prayers are known to the majority of Muslims. So, the one who prays the prayer after its time intentionally and deliberately is like the one who prays it before its time, and there is no difference at all; because in both cases he prayed the prayer outside its time. He either brought it forward before the time or delayed it after the time, just as that Turkish guide said: "Hepsi beraber" (all together), there is no difference at all. The difference is due to a mistake by some of the scholars in the past; they found a difference between performing the prayer before its time and performing the prayer after its time. They found a difference in some cases and analogized other cases to them. This is the part that the Messenger - peace be upon him - specified in the hadith that al-Bukhari and Muslim narrated in their "Sahihayn" from the hadith of Abu Qatadah al-Ansari - may Allah be pleased with him - who said: The Messenger of Allah - peace and blessings be upon him - said: . .

The questioner : The one who is negligent about the Fajr prayer.

The Shaykh : , as we said in the hadith, , for this sleeper the pen is lifted from him, he has woken up; so now the legal ruling is established for him; likewise, the forgetful person is exactly the same, . This principle was the basis for that mistake. This principle means that there is an additional time for the original time , he slept; the time of the prayer passed, he forgot; the time of the prayer passed, the Lawgiver did not say to him: No, you have no prayer. He said to him: Pray it when you remember it.
Some of them said previously, and today the majority of people, scholars and those below them, said: If the excused person is ordered to make up the prayer, then the non-excused person is all the more ordered to make up the prayer. This is a mistake... The excused person was ordered to make up the prayer out of mercy for him; because he did not intend to disobey his Lord. As for the one who was busy with his trade, his play, and his games, and so on; he does not deserve this mercy; so how can it be said, can the deliberate be analogized to the mistaken?
The example is the example of the intentional killer and the accidental killer; can this be analogized to that? Allah is the Greatest!! How great is the difference between them! Despite that, this hadith contains a phrase that blocks the path for those who interpret it incorrectly, . If someone, like our brother asked earlier: he did not wake up for the Fajr prayer until after the sun rose, what did he say? This is the prayer that was missed, and now I am going to work, I have to catch the official work hours, I will pray it later, it is gone from me; why? Because the Messenger is saying: ; what does "when" mean? Time; meaning: that Allah - Mighty and Majestic - out of mercy for this sleeper or the forgetful person, extended the known time to the time of waking up and to the time of remembering. But He said to them: Be careful, if you do not pray in this additional time .
Therefore, we say: Any Muslim who is tested for a period of his life by wasting the prayers outside their prescribed times, not due to an excuse of sleep or forgetfulness, but by playing with the world away from obeying Allah; this person, first of all, must repent to Allah - Mighty and Majestic - with sincere repentance. And sincere repentance is regret for what has passed, the resolve not to return to it, and increasing in acts of obedience; therefore, we say to this one who has missed those prayers, whether few or many, that he has been deprived of a very great reward; so in order to compensate for this reward, he does not repeat the prayer; it is gone. If this one who left the prayer could bring back the days in which he wasted those prayers, let him do it, and this is called tying to the impossible; so since he cannot, he must now pray prescribed prayers; what are the prescribed prayers? Maintaining, above all, the regular voluntary prayers (rawatib) with the obligatory ones; two rak'ahs before Fajr, two rak'ahs before Zuhr, and two rak'ahs after Zuhr, four rak'ahs before 'Asr, two rak'ahs before Maghrib, two rak'ahs after Maghrib, four rak'ahs of voluntary prayer before 'Isha' or two rak'ahs, and two rak'ahs after 'Isha'; then you have the witr with you from one rak'ah to eleven rak'ahs; maintaining these regular voluntary prayers (rawatib) above all. Then, if Allah blesses him with time and gives him strength, health, and energy, he increases in voluntary prayers from the other voluntary ones besides these.
And this is the meaning of his saying - peace and blessings be upon him - and with this hadith we conclude the session: . In a narration: , . This completion includes completion in quantity and completion in quality. Completion in quantity is wasting prayers; so he is compensated for this with these prayers that we can call "reserve," or in quality, the obligatory prayers he performed in their times have a deficiency; meaning, the full reward is not recorded for him, as he - peace be upon him - indicated in the well-known hadith: . Often it is half, and where is the other half? In "Khabar Kan" (a thing that has passed)!

The questioner : The voluntary prayers complete it.

The Shaykh : Yes, the deficiency that was found in the quality or that deficiency in the quantity is completed by these voluntary prayers.
This is our advice to everyone who is tested by leaving the prayers intentionally and deliberately.

The questioner : May Allah bless you.

Another questioner : ... .

The Shaykh : Give them news, by Allah, let them...