If I miss a prayer is that sinful?

Answer:

All praise is due to Allah, exalted is He, and peace and blessing be upon His Messenger.

The scholars agree that it is obligatory for one who has forgotten the salah or slept through its time to make up the missed [qada’) prayer. This opinion is based on the hadith of the Prophet (SAW):

“There is no negligence while one is asleep but forgetfulness occurs when one is awake. If one of you forgets the prayer or sleeps through its time, then he should perform the salah when he recalls it.” (Abu Dawud, Tirmidhi)

If one falls unconscious, then he need not repeat the salah, unless he regains his consciousness with enough time to purify himself and perform the salah within its proper time.

As for missing the (obligatory) prayer intentionally, The Majority of the scholars agree that it is a sin and the missed prayer must be made up for, while some scholars have even said that deliberate missing of a prayer is an act of kufr.

Allah (swt) says in the Qur’an, “Then woe to those prayer performers. Who are heedless of their prayers (Part 30, Surah Ma-oon, verse 4-5)

The Prophet (SAW) said “What lies between a man and disbelief is the abandonment of prayer.” ( Agreed upon by Muslim, Abu Dawood and Nasaa’ee as sahih authentic)

There are many other Ahadeeth and verses in the Qur’an that warn those who are neglectful of their obligatory prayers. Thus deliberately missing a prayer is a major sin (kabeerah) and one must be careful not to be heedless of his/her prayers and ensure that they are performed within their prescribed times.

People often ask if they can delay their prayer to the end of the day because of work. Work is not a good enough reason for delaying prayer and one must take a break and pray during the prescribed prayer time. Employers would rarely deny a person such a request.

And Allah knows best.

Answered by: Maulana Nurul Huda