What is the ruling on making up missed prayers and fasts for one who intentionally left them, and are the regular voluntary prayers made up like the obligatory ones in cases of forgetfulness and sleep?

The Shaykh : Welcome.

The questioner : The writing of the record for a person, for example, when he is fifteen years old, so he prays and fasts, and when he is twenty years old, these five years, does he make up what he missed of prayer and fasting?

The Shaykh : I think this was answered earlier with the Algerian, when he asked about the regular voluntary prayers, whether they are made up. The answer was that the regular voluntary prayers are treated like the obligatory ones. The obligatory prayers that a person leaves outside their time without an excuse of sleep or forgetfulness cannot be made up. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) used to say: Suppose a person remembers at this moment that he did not pray the midday prayer due to distraction and forgetfulness, then he must immediately at the moment of remembering perform and make up the forgotten prayer... So, if a person was forgetful of the prayer and remembers it, he must pray it now. If he does not do so and says, as some of the common people say, "This prayer's time has passed, we will pray it later at our leisure," the time for this forgotten prayer is the time of remembering it or waking up for it. If he does not pray it at the time of remembering, it is lost for him. And as we all know, every prayer of the five prayers has a generous time; the narrowest time is the sunset prayer, which is about an hour. So, if a person is preoccupied with this prayer for a period of one hour until its time passes without a legal excuse, then there is no expiation for it because he did not pray it at the time of remembering. If the forgotten prayer, which he slept through, is remembered, he (peace be upon him) said: This is its time. If he does not pray it, there is no expiation for it. What about a prayer whose time is one hour, and he does not pray it in that time? He cannot make up this prayer, as I told you first, forever, because Allah (Mighty and Majestic) says: What does "appointed" mean? It means limited, the first and the last. If the matter were left to the desire of the worshippers, especially those who are overcome by the love of this world and preoccupation with it and immersion in its pleasures, this verse would be nullified: Therefore, the Muslim must remember the great sin of wasting the prayer and taking it out of its time, as he (peace be upon him) said: It is as if his house and his family burned down. Look at the magnitude of the calamity because he wasted one prayer. Is the issue of making up clear to you?

The questioner : May Allah reward you with good.

The Shaykh : There is no making up except with an excuse of sleep or forgetfulness, and then with this excuse, at the time of remembering, one must perform the act of worship. If he delays, its time passes again.

The questioner : And fasting is the same?

The Shaykh : And fasting in Ramadan is the same: As for the one who is not sick and not traveling, he takes the sanctities of Allah lightly and eats and drinks while people are fasting, so he also cannot make it up.