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A man missed a prayer while traveling and remembered it before reaching his destination

Question

If I was traveling and missed the Thuhr, ‘Asr, and Maghrib prayers, how should I make up for them? May Allaah The Almighty Reward you.

Answer

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.

The Messenger of Allaah, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, said: "If anyone forgets a prayer then he should pray it when he remembers it. There is no expiation except to pray the same." Then he, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, recited the verse (what means): {… so worship Me and establish prayer for My remembrance.}[Quran 20:14] [Al-Bukhari and Muslim] This is the wording of Imaam Al-Bukhari  may  Allaah  have  mercy  upon  him.

If you miss these prayers while traveling, you should avail yourself of the concession of shortening the prayers while traveling and shorten the Thuhr and ‘Asr prayers. Ibn Qudaamah  may  Allaah  have  mercy  upon  him said in Al-Mughni, "If a traveler remembered a missed prayer while traveling, he should make up for it in the shortened form since their time became due while he was traveling. Were he to perform them while traveling, he would have shortened them. Therefore, he should make up for them in shortened form as he is making up for them while traveling."

If one remembered missing prayers when traveling or while in residence (i.e. after reaching his destination), Imaam Ahmad  may  Allaah  have  mercy  upon  him believed that he should make up for them without shortening them so as to be in the safe side, as it is more prudent. This is the opinion of Al-Awza‘i, Daawood, and Ash-Shaafi‘i, in one of his two opinions  may  Allaah  have  mercy  upon  them. The opinion of Imaam Maalik, Ath-Thawri and Hanafi scholars  may  Allaah  have  mercy  upon  them is that he should make up for them in the shortened form, since he is making up what he missed and he missed only two Rak‘ahs.

Allaah Knows best.

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