Salat - The Muslim Prayer Book — Page 90
90 S al a t —The Muslim Prayer Book missed Prayers, when offered later on, are known as Qa da Prayers. One has to offer the obligatory part of the Prayer services which have been missed. Whenever a person realises that he has missed the obligatory Prayers or Prayer, he should offer them immediately keeping in view the natural sequence of those Prayers. Some religious leaders have given decrees that one may offer one substitute Prayer to compensate all Prayers missed in one’s lifetime. They have coined the term Qa da’ i ‘Umr i for it. Because of such teachings people have become less attentive in the observance of Prayers. Prayer is the daily sustenance of the spirit. How can a person stay hungry for ten years and then eat ten years’ worth of food in one go? It, therefore, demeans the institution of Prayer to suggest that a person may neglect the duty of offering Prayer all his life and then simply offer Qa da’ i ‘Umr i one day to compensate the loss. This is not the teaching of the Holy Prophet sa of Islam. According to Islamic jurisprudence, if someone has missed a Prayer knowingly and deliberately, no Qa da can compensate that and the Prayer is lost for ever, but the true judge in such cases is God Almighty. TAHAJJUD PRAYER To go to bed soon after the ‘Ish a ’ Prayer and to get up in the late hours of the night for the observance of the optional Tahajjud Prayer is a source of great