2- PRAYER TIMES AND MAKING UP MISSED PRAYERS PRAYER TIMES
THE PRESCRIBED PRAYERS ARE FIVE:
(1) The time for the noon prayer (zuhr) begins after the sun’s zenith for that day, and ends when an object’s shadow, minus the length of its shadow at the time of the sun’s zenith, equals the object’s height.
(2) The time for the mid-afternoon prayer (‘asr) begins at the end of the noon prayer’s time, and ends at sunset, though when an object’s shadow (minus the length of its shadow at the sun’s zenith) is twice as long as the object’s height, the preferred time is over and the merely permissible time remains.
(3) The time for the sunset prayer (maghrib) begins when the sun has completely set. It only lasts long enough to perform ablution (wudu), clothe one’s nakedness, make the call to prayer (adhan) and call to commence (iqama) and to pray five moderate-length rak’as (units) of prayer. It is a sin to delay commencing the sunset prayer beyond this, and if one does, one is making up a missed prayer (i.e., according to the position the author has adopted, which contradicts the more reliable opinion that one’s prayer is not a makeup until after the red has disappeared from the sky), though if one begins it within the right time, one may continue until the red disappears from the sky.
(4) The time for the nightfall prayer (‘isha) begins when the red of sunset leaves the sky, and ends at true dawn (true dawn being when the sky around the horizon begins to grow light. Before this, a dim light sometimes appears overhead for some minutes, followed by darkness, and is termed the deceptive dawn (al-fajr al-kadhib) (al-Iqna’ fi hall alfaz Abi Shuja’ (y7), 1.95). But after a third of the night has passed, the preferred time for nightfall prayer has ended and the merely permissible remains.
(5) And the time for the dawn prayer (subh) begins at true dawn’ and ends at sunrise, though the preferred time for it ends when it becomes light outside, after which the merely permissible remains.
(Prayer times vary a little each day with the season and the year, and from one town to another through the effects of latitude and longitude. One can keep abreast of the changes by obtaining the whole year’s times in a printed calendar from one’s local Muslim association or mosque, or by using the pocket computer mentioned below, which discusses how one fasts and prays at northerly latitudes (including much of North America and Europe during the summer months) lacking the features that legally define the true prayer and fasting times, such as nightfall or true dawn.)
It is best to pray every prayer at the first of its time, taking the necessary steps at its outset, such as purification, clothing one’s nakedness, giving the call to prayer (adhan) and call to commence (iqama), and then praying.
If less than one rak’a of one’s prayer occurs within the proper time (meaning that one does not lift one’s head from the remainder takes place after it, then the whole prayer is considered a makeup. If one rak’a or more takes place within the prayer’s time and the remainder is after it, then the prayer is considered a current performance, though it is unlawful to intentionally delay the prayer until part of it occurs after the time is finished.
It is permissible to rely (for knowledge that a prayer’s time has come) on a knowledgeable, dependable muezzin (caller to prayer). If one lacks someone to inform one of the time, then one may reason on the basis of reciting a scheduled period of invocation or Quran recital (Ar. wird) (referring to those whose wirds normally take the whole time between two prescribed prayers such that when they finish, they know the time for the second prayer has come. The legal basis of wirds is discussed ahead), and the like (including modern clocks, and prayer time calendars issued by experts on the times in various localities).
MAKING UP MISSED PRAYERS
When enough of a prayer’s time has elapsed to have performed the prayer during it. And someone who has not yet prayed loses their reason or their menstrual period begins, they are obligated to make up that missed prayer (as soon as they are able).
Whenever a prescribed prayer is missed for a valid reason, it is recommended to make it up immediately.
If missed without a valid reason, it is obligatory to make it up immediately (meaning during all one’s time that is not occupied by necessities. In the Shafi’i school, it is not even permissible for such a person to perform sunnah prayers (before having finished making up the second prostration of the rak’a before the time ends) and the missed ones). The same applies to making up missed obligatory fasts (by fasting a day in place of each day missed), and it is unlawful to delay doing so until the following Ramadan.
It is recommended that missed prayers be made up in the order they were missed. (The call to prayer (adhan) and call to commence (iqama) when making up missed prayers are discussed at f3.5, and whether to recite prayers aloud or to oneself)
It is recommended to make up missed prescribed prayers before performing the current· one, unless one fears its time will pass, in which case it is obligatory to pray the current one first. If one begins making up a missed prayer thinking that there will be time for both it and the current prescribed prayer, but finds that there is only enough time left for the latter, then one must discontinue the makeup in order to perform the current one.
If one has a prayer to make up and finds the current prayer being performed by a group, it is recommended to perform the makeup by oneself before praying the current one.
If one misses one· or more of the five prayers but does not remember which of them it was, then one must pray all five, intending for each one making up the missed prayer.
(If someone finds he has been consistently mistaken day after day in praying, for example, the dawn prayer( subh) before its time, or some similar timing error, then each prayer performed after the first day of the whole series of prayers thus mistakenly prayed is considered the makeup of the day before it, and when such a person discovers the error, he has only one prayer to make up, namely the one on the last day prior to learning of the mistake (Mughni al-rnuhtaj ita rna’rita rna’ani altaz al-Minhaj (y73), 1.127).)
(Source: The reliance of the traveller, revised edition, Edited and Translated by Nuh Ha Mim Keller)
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