What Is the Ruling on Missed Prayers From Years of Not Praying?
Scholars differ. The majority hold that missed prayers are made up; a significant group holds that prayers abandoned deliberately cannot be made up and require sincere repentance and abundant voluntary prayer instead.
Answers are more useful when you can see the working, so the evidence is set out below.
The evidence
The majority position argues from the hadith on making up a forgotten prayer, reasoning that deliberate abandonment is more serious and so more deserving of repair.
Ibn Taymiyyah and Ibn Hazm held that a prayer has an appointed time, so praying it outside that time without excuse does not fulfil it — leaving repentance as the route.
Both positions agree on two things: sincere tawbah is required, and the person should henceforth pray consistently and increase in voluntary prayer.
In practice
- Do not let the scale of the calculation prevent you from starting; begin praying now.
- If you follow the majority view, make up a manageable number alongside each daily prayer rather than attempting a total.
- Increase in nawafil regardless of which view you follow; both positions recommend it.
Knowledge that is not acted on has a name in the tradition, and it is not a flattering one. Pick the smallest applicable step.
Go deeper. Thousands of answers, searchable by topic and reviewed before publication, are at Islamic Q&A — qa.hisnulmuslimapp.com.
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Is It Permissible to Combine Prayers While Travelling?
Yes — the majority of scholars permit combining Dhuhr with ‘Asr and Maghrib with ‘Isha while travelling, and it is authentically established from the Sunnah.
Is It Obligatory to Pray in Congregation at the Masjid?
For men, the majority of scholars hold it strongly emphasised, and a significant group holds it obligatory. All agree it carries twenty-seven times the reward of praying alone.
How Do I Pray if I Cannot Stand?
Pray sitting; if you cannot sit, lying on your side; if you cannot, then by indication. The obligation does not lift, only the form changes.
What Is the Correct Way to Perform the Funeral Prayer?
Four takbirs standing, with no ruku‘ or sujud: al-Fatihah after the first, salah upon the Prophet ﷺ after the second, supplication for the deceased after the third, and the salam after the fourth.