Qada Prayers: How to Make Up Missed Salah, Step by Step

Qada means making up an obligatory prayer after its time has passed. Everyone misses a prayer at some point: an alarm that did not go off, an exam, a hospital shift. Some people have years to make up. This guide covers both, with a plan that actually gets done.

The basic rule

The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: whoever forgets a prayer should pray it when he remembers, and there is no expiation for it other than that (Bukhari 597 / Muslim 684). Two consequences follow:

1. A missed prayer is not cancelled; it is still owed.
2. The way to settle it is simply to pray it, as soon as reasonably possible.

Whoever slept through the prayer or genuinely forgot has no sin for the delay. Someone who missed it deliberately must repent and, in the majority view, make it up as well.

A prayer you missed today

• Pray it immediately when you remember or wake, before the next prayer if possible. If you oversleep Fajr and wake at 8:30, pray Fajr at 8:30.
• Order. The majority prefer praying the missed prayer before the current one when the current one is not about to run out. Example: you remember at 15:30 (Asr time) that you did not pray Dhuhr. Pray Dhuhr, then Asr. If only ten minutes of Asr's time remain, pray Asr first, then Dhuhr. Hanafis treat order as required for up to five missed prayers; Shafi'is treat it as recommended.
• Same form. Make up a prayer in the form it was due: a four-rak'ah Isha is made up as four, an audible prayer may be read aloud.
• Travellers. A prayer missed while travelling is made up as two rak'ahs in the Hanafi view; in the majority view it depends on where you make it up.

Who is excused from making up

• Women during menstruation or post-natal bleeding. Prayers during these days are not performed and not made up; fasts are made up (Muslim 335). See women and salah.
• Someone unconscious for a long period (views differ on the length; Hanafis: more than five prayers; others differ).
• A person who was not Muslim at the time; prayers before accepting Islam are not owed.
• Children before puberty.

Years of missed prayers: a plan that works

Many people stop praying in their teens and return later. Counting what is owed can feel crushing; the Qur'an reminds us that Allah does not burden a soul beyond what it can bear (2:286). Here is a method used in many communities.

Step 1: Estimate the number

Write down the years, multiply, and be fair to yourself. Example:

Hanafis add witr to the list; others do not.

Step 2: Choose a daily dose

The most practical method, used across schools, is one extra set after each daily prayer: after you pray Fajr, pray one missed Fajr; after Dhuhr, one missed Dhuhr, and so on. That adds about 15 minutes a day and clears one full day of missed prayers every day.

• 19,700 owed at 5 per day = about 10.8 years.
• Doubling to two sets per day (Fajr and Isha are easy times) halves that to 5.4 years.
• Many people do extra on Fridays, holidays and in Ramadan.

Scholars from all schools are clear that someone with a large backlog should also not neglect sunnah prayers entirely, but may give priority to qada; Hanafis specifically advise replacing non-emphasised sunnahs with qada while keeping the emphasised ones.

Step 3: Track it

Use a simple grid: five columns (Fajr, Dhuhr, Asr, Maghrib, Isha), one row per 100. Tick a cell per completed set. A spreadsheet, a notebook by the prayer mat or a prayer tracker app all work; the only requirement is that the record survives a change of phone. Count down, not up, so you can see the finishing line.

Step 4: Keep the current five intact

Qada never replaces today's prayers. The whole point of consistency in the five prayers is that the backlog stops growing. Set reminders for the five fixed times (Qur'an 4:103) and treat the qada as the extra.

Order between old missed prayers

For a large backlog, exact order is not required in any school; intend "the first Fajr I owe" (or "the last") each time and the intention covers whichever one it is. For a handful of recently missed prayers, Hanafis and Malikis prefer to keep the order; Shafi'is and Hanbalis recommend it.

When to pray qada

• Shafi'i, Maliki, Hanbali: any time, including sunrise, zenith and sunset.
• Hanafi: avoid the three disliked times (Muslim 831); see forbidden prayer times. Practically: not in the 15–20 minutes after sunrise, not in the few minutes around solar noon, not in the 15–20 minutes before Maghrib. The prayer times page shows sunrise and Dhuhr, which mark those windows.

Intentionally missed prayers: the views

• The four Sunni schools (majority): repent and make up every prayer; the duty does not lapse with time.
• A minority view (held by some early scholars and some later ones): deliberately missed prayers cannot be "made up" in the technical sense; the person repents sincerely and increases voluntary prayer and good deeds.

Both views agree on repentance and on starting the five prayers today. For your own situation, ask a scholar or imam you trust, and do not let the question of the past delay the prayer that is due now.