Is it obligatory for a Muslim who abandoned prayer or fasting for a specific period and then repented to make up all the missed prayers and fasts, no matter how long the period was?
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The questioner : I heard one of the scholars say: If a Muslim’s original status is that he is a Muslim, and he abandoned prayer or fasting, and then he returns to prayer and fasting, he makes up the period of fasting and prayer. He prays one prayer for every time he missed. But if his original status was not Muslim, meaning like a disbeliever, such as a Christian or a Jew, and then he enters Islam, he does not make up, he does not make up. Islam wipes out what came before it. But if he was a Muslim who abandoned prayer, he prays with every time and fasts the missed days...
The Shaykh : Did you hear this? And you heard its opposite just now, so what is to be done?
The questioner : Islam wipes out what came before it.
The student : The practice was what the Salaf (may Allah be pleased with them) did, what our righteous Salaf did.
The Shaykh : Islam wipes out what came before it? And repentance?
The questioner : It wipes out what came before it.
The Shaykh : So, answer me?
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh : Do you know that repentance also wipes out what came before it? Or not? Allah the Exalted said in describing the servants of the Most Merciful:[Al-Furqan 25:68-70] Ah, and therefore repentance erases the sin. Then how can it be said to a person who is commanded to pray the Maghrib, Isha, and Fajr prayers at night that he should pray them during the day? Is this not a denial of His saying (Glorified and Exalted is He): [An-Nisa 4:103]?
The Shaykh : Did you hear this? And you heard its opposite just now, so what is to be done?
The questioner : Islam wipes out what came before it.
The student : The practice was what the Salaf (may Allah be pleased with them) did, what our righteous Salaf did.
The Shaykh : Islam wipes out what came before it? And repentance?
The questioner : It wipes out what came before it.
The Shaykh : So, answer me?
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh : Do you know that repentance also wipes out what came before it? Or not? Allah the Exalted said in describing the servants of the Most Merciful:
(68) And those who do not invoke with Allah another deity or kill the soul which Allah has forbidden [to be killed], except by right, and do not commit unlawful sexual intercourse. And whoever should do that will meet a penalty. (69) Multiplied for him is the punishment on the Day of Resurrection, and he will abide therein humiliated - (70) Except for those who repent, believe and do righteous work. For them Allah will replace their evil deeds with good. And ever is Allah Forgiving and Merciful.
وَالَّذِينَ لَا يَدْعُونَ مَعَ اللَّهِ إِلَهًا آخَرَ وَلَا يَقْتُلُونَ النَّفْسَ الَّتِي حَرَّمَ اللَّهُ إِلَّا بِالْحَقِّ وَلَا يَزْنُونَ وَمَنْ يَفْعَلْ ذَلِكَ يَلْقَ أَثَامًا * يُضَاعَفْ لَهُ الْعَذَابُ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ وَيَخْلُدْ فِيهِ مُهَانًا * إِلَّا مَنْ تَابَ وَآمَنَ وَعَمِلَ عَمَلًا صَالِحًا فَأُولَئِكَ يُبَدِّلُ اللَّهُ سَيِّئَاتِهِمْ حَسَنَاتٍ وَكَانَ اللَّهُ غَفُورًا رَحِيمًاIndeed, prayer has been decreed upon the believers a decree of specified times.
إِنَّ الصَّلَاةَ كَانَتْ عَلَى الْمُؤْمِنِينَ كِتَابًا مَوْقُوتًا
Source
www.al-albany.com
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.