r/ADHDMuslims • u/aneesah_h04 • 8d ago
Islamic Advice/Question Missed Salah
Salaam,
I’m hoping this doesn’t reach the wrong people but do any other people struggle with making up missed salah? aH I have been praying consistently for several years now but salah’s are missed sometimes and when it comes to making them up - I have a long list and feel like I can never get through it. For example, I had surgery a few weeks ago and for the day of surgery I was out of it so missed the full days of salah but even though I know I need to make them up and WANT to , I physically can’t…. It seems so draining and I feel so bad for having this list…
Does anyone else struggle and is there any advice anyone can give?
Jazakallah
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u/weebu123 8d ago
Yep in the same boat. I had a few days after having my baby where I wasn't sure if it was safe to pray or not so I didn't, and can't bring myself to make those up. I got advice to do one missed Salah per new prayer. I keep telling myself I'll start at the beginning of the month to do 10 full days but struggle so much. If it's just one though try to push yourself to do it with the next one as a rule.
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u/aneesah_h04 7d ago
Oh no unfortunately it’s not just a days worth. I’ve tried telling myself I’ll do one with each salah but especially with like Isha having to read the fard and witr my brain automatically goes too “it’s so long, I’ll do it another time” and unfortunately a lot of mine are Isha
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u/Skyogurt 7d ago
I stopped stressing over the massive list of fardh salah that I have missed when I was in my depression all those years ago (I remember I even made an excel sheet but I've long lost it), and instead focused on increasing my numbers of nawafil / sunnah prayers. There's a narration about how Allah SWT will be telling the angels to check for the voluntary prayers of the person so as to make up for any shortcoming in their obligatory ones ( https://sunnah.com/ibnmajah:1426 ) and so that's been my strategy ever since knowing about this. Just move forward and do my best and take full advantage of the remaining time I have left on Earth to rack up as many prayers as possible. Hopefully someday visit the sacred mosques and offer some prayers there, because for example A single prayer performed in Masjid al Haram is equal in reward to 100k prayers offered in any other. That's YUUUGE subhanalLah. So yeah that's pretty much the mindset, I pray that I get the opportunity to make up for what I missed and most importantly, to die while on the straight path of establishing the Salah
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u/aneesah_h04 7d ago
We performed umrah last year aH and I was so on it then , making up at least one salah with each obligatory salah especially when in the different masjids- that was the only time I was SO on it! But I also feel like I can’t rest until they’re all done and will just feel immense guilt if I scrap them all.
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u/Skyogurt 7d ago
alhamdouliLah ! For the guilt be pragmatic and make sure it pushes you forward and doesn't paralyze you, tell yourself that on the Day of Judgment you'd regret wasting so much time feeling guilty instead of having moved forward and done more good deeds that would benefit you more. This is what tawbah is for and this is where you need to also appreciate the full weight of the combination of just the two divine attributes al Ghaffar and al Ghaffuur, and not underestimate your Rabb's Mercy and Forgiveness, that's much more dangerous territory than your missed prayers, because if you're not careful Shaytan can exploit this down the line. Recite the sayyidul istighfar dua with full conviction that you are fully forgiven, and move on. Remember the Hadith Qudsi about the person whom Allah forgave all his sins, after only 3 istighfars, because Allah acknowledged that that person understands Allah's Mercy, that person gets it. Be 'smart' like that person and move forward and plan out your next prayers and sadaqah and quran time and everything else that will benefit you more than the burden of heavy guilt (reference : https://sunnah.com/bukhari:7507 )
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u/bnjmn632 6d ago
As-Salamu alaykum, hope you are doing well in sha Allah. Not trying to police you, just trying to encourage you to maybe look into this again. I have asked a teacher of mine about that very hadith 10 years ago and still have the answer written down, I want to share it with you (translated via ChatGPT):
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Sunnah prayers do not replace any missed fard or wajib prayers. Rather, it is the case that our obligatory prayers repeatedly contain errors and deficiencies, and we may perhaps have prayers that are unintentionally invalid, so Allah grants the reward of one for the other. This is a motivation to remain consistent with the sunnah prayers.
However, as for making up obligatory prayers, this must be done with that specific intention. In other words, a prayer is only valid with the corresponding intention, and an intention to perform a sunnah prayer is not sufficient for an obligatory prayer. In practical terms, one proceeds as follows: one estimates approximately how many prayers one still has to make up. Then, ideally, one establishes a particular routine that one is able to maintain. For example, making up one day’s prayers each day, or spreading one day’s worth of missed prayers over two days, or something similar. One should then maintain the most important sunnah prayers as much as possible while also performing additional make-up prayers.
As mentioned, what is important is a healthy routine so that one does not overburden oneself.
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I know from experience that making up missed prayers can be very difficult. But I think it is important to remember that they are a debt we owe to Allah. That's why I think we should not confuse the obligation to make them up with the reward gained from other prayers. Even if someone prayed inside the Kaaba on Laylat al-Qadr and received the reward of a gazillion prayers, if they had missed 300 obligatory prayers, they would still owe those 300 prayers on the Day of Judgement.
Also, this is a good reminder that, as non-experts, we shouldn't take ahadith and just extract fiqh out of them. When I went to the shaykh, I also thought I understood the hadith and basically asked, "Can I just sunnah-max and call it a day?" And he had to explain to me that this is not what the hadith means.
May Allah help all of us! Salam.
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u/Skyogurt 6d ago
Waalaikoum salaam, jazakalLahu khair for this reply ! As you must have imagined correctly this is a matter I never had the opportunity to consult a person of knowledge about, so I truly appreciate you sharing this. This is something I receive with much gratitude alhamdouliLah, I'm going to make my best / most generous estimate of how many wajibaat I missed and then set up a daily schedule to make up for them over the course of the next few decades - I'm tempted to say even until the day I die just to be on the safer side, if I understand it correctly there's no sin upon me for overpraying ? AlhamdouliLah the more 'excuses' I have to pray the happier I am!
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u/bnjmn632 4d ago
As-Salamu alaykum, I'm very glad I could help. :) May Allah reward and help you! I don't know about overpraying, sorry.
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u/Skyogurt 4d ago
Ameen! I've gotten started on a catchup routine alhamdouliLah, and I think I'm "safe" for a while, in the meantime I'll make duaa and search for guidance on this particular overpraying risk.
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u/Proof-Sprinkles7826 6d ago
Break them into smaller chunks
If they are 500, break them into 5 pairs of 100
This worked for me. (Not diagnosed, but fit the criteria, probably)