Qaḍā al-Fawā’it (al-Fatāwā ar-Riḍawiyyah) – T. M.

Kiani

Method of Performing Missed Prayers (Qaḍā’) Quickly

If someone has missed many prayers, be they of one time or many, they make them up by way of
qaḍā’ as soon as possible, because prayer (ṣalāh) is an obligation that is inexcusable. On the Day of
Judgement prayer will be the first one will be asked about.

For those who have many years of missed prayers, there is a method to perform them quickly.

The following instructions include all the obligations and incumbent acts required for a complete
prayer, but with four exceptions. One ought to make up for their missed prayers as soon as possible,
and even if one has the capacity to pray only one day‟s missed prayers, which total only twenty
units (rakʻahs) (including the three units of the witr prayer), they ought to. According to the
following instructions, it only takes a few minutes to perform twenty units of prayer:

1) In the rukūʻ (bowing) and sajdah (prostrating) positions:

instead of reciting - َِ ْ ‫ان َر ِ ّ َب َ الْعَ ِظي‬

“Subḥāna Rabbiya‟l-ʻAẓīm ‫م‬ َ ‫ ” ُسب ْ َح‬and

َٰ ْ‫ان َر ِ ّب َ ْاْلَع‬
“Subḥāna Rabbiya‟l-Aʻlā ‫ل‬ َ ‫ ” ُسب ْ َح‬three times,
pronounce them only once.

The rukūʻ must be performed completely and the „mīm ‫ ‟م‬of ʻAẓīm pronounced properly, and

likewise is the case with the sajdah, which is only complete after the „lā ‫ل‬
َٰ ‟ of Aʻlā has been
pronounced properly. One ought not to make haste when reciting these words (tasbīḥs).

2) a. In the third and fourth units of obligatory prayer:

instead of reciting - the whole chapter of al-Fātiḥah,

only pronounce “Subḥān Allāh ‫ان اهلل‬

َ ‫ ” ُسب ْ َح‬three times and enter rukūʻ.

One ought to pronounce “Subḥān Allāh ‫ان اهلل‬ َ ‫ ” ُسب ْ َح‬correctly without haste. This exception is only
for (the third and fourth units of) obligatory prayers.

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 Qaḍā al-Fawā’it (al-Fatāwā ar-Riḍawiyyah) – T. M. Kiani

2) b. In the third unit of witr prayer, one must recite the complete chapter of al-Fātiḥah followed by
at least three verses of the Holy Qur‟ān or a complete chapter (in the same manner as the
conventional first and second units).

3) In the final qaʻdah (sitting position), after reciting the tashahhud (i.e. attaḥiyyāt… till ‘abdu-Hū
wa rasūlu-Hū) and before performing the salutation (salām):

instead of reciting - the complete prayers on the Holy Prophet Muḥammad  and the final
supplication, one may only pronounce the following words:
“Allāhumma ṣalli ʻalā sayyidinā muḥammadin‟wa ālihī َ‫ل َسيِ ّ ََِِا ََ َح ََِّّ َّ َّ َلل ِه‬
َٰ َ ‫”َأَلل ُّٰه َّم َص ّ ِل ع‬
then end the prayer with salutation; the final supplication is not required.

4) In the witr prayer:

instead of reciting the supplication of Qunūt, one may say the following once or thrice (whereas
thrice is better):
َ ِ ‫” َر ِ ّب ا ْغ ِف ْر‬.
“Rabbi‟ghfir lī َْ‫ل‬

(al-Fatāwā ar-Riḍawiyyah (Rizwiyyah), Part 3, Page 622)

… and Allāh knows best.

Tahir Mahmood Kiani

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