Is it prescribed to make up the regular Sunnah prayers that should be offered before and after Zuhr by offering them after ‘Asr because of an excuse?

Question: 146713

I pray the noon prayer on campus, but my classes start before noon and end after the afternoon prayer is performed, with no enough time between classes, so I pray the noon prayer only without the stressed practices for lack of time. if I arrive at class after the professor, I am not allowed to attend the class. Sometimes, I don’t even have enough time to get to the place of prayer, so I pray in a secluded space inside the hall.

Is it permitted to pray the stressed practices when I get home following the afternoon prayers? And what should I do about stressed pre-practices ?.

Praise be to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah and his family.

It is prescribed to make up the regular Sunnah prayers
(al-sunan al-rawaatib) if they are missed because of an excuse such as
sleeping, forgetting or being too busy to do them, which led to one not
offering them at the proper time. So they may be made up even at times
when prayer is not allowed, according to the correct scholarly opinion.
That is because of the report narrated by al-Bukhaari (1233) and Muslim
(834) from Umm Salamah (may Allah be pleased with her), according to which
the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) prayed two rak‘ahs
after ‘Asr; she asked him about that and he said, “Some people from ‘Abd
al-Qays came to me and distracted me from offering the two rak‘ahs that
come after Zuhr, so these are they.”

And Ibn Maajah (1154) narrated that Qays ibn ‘Amr said: The
Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) saw a man praying two
rak‘ahs after Fajr. The Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him)
said: “Fajr prayer twice?” The man said to him: I did not pray the two
rak‘ahs that come before it, so I prayed them (now). And the Prophet
(blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) did not say anything. Classed as
saheeh by al-Albaani in Saheeh Ibn Maajah, 948.

And al-Tirmidhi (426) narrated from ‘Aa’ishah (may Allah be
pleased with her) that if the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon
him) did not pray four rak‘ahs before Zuhr, he would pray them afterwards.
Classed as hasan by al-Albaani in Saheeh al-Tirmidhi.

Al-Nawawi (may Allah have mercy on him) said:

The correct view is our opinion is that it is mustahabb to
make up the regular Sunnah prayers (al-sunan al-rawaatib). This is the view
of Muhammad, al-Muzani, and Ahmad according to one report. Abu Haneefah,
Maalik and Abu Yoosuf, according to the more well-known report from them,
said: They should not be made up; our evidence is these saheeh hadeeths. End
quote. al-Majmoo‘, 4/43

Al-Mardaawi al-Hanbali (may Allah have mercy on him) said:

The words “and whoever misses any of these Sunnah prayers, it
is prescribed for him to make them up”– this is our madhhab (the madhhab of
Imam Ahmad) and is the well known view according to our companions. End
quote. al-Insaaf, 2/187

Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah (may Allah have mercy on him)
said:

If one of the regular Sunnah prayers, such as the Sunnah
prayer of Zuhr, is missed, can it be made up after ‘Asr? There are two views
both of which were narrated from Ahmad. One of them is that it may not be
made up; this is the view of Abu Haneefah and Maalik. The other view is that
it may be made up. This is the view of al-Shaafa‘i and it is stronger. And
Allah knows best. End quote. Majmoo‘ al-Fataawa, 23/127

Based on the above, if you are not able to offer the regular
Sunnah prayers before and after Zuhr at the proper time, it is prescribed
for you to offer them after ‘Asr.

Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen (may Allah have mercy on him) was
asked: Is it permissible to delay the Sunnah prayer that is offered before
Zuhr, as we start Zuhr prayer, then after approximately one hour we offer
the Sunnah prayers that come before and after, because the time allowed for
us to pray where we are studying outside the Kingdom is only enough to do
wudoo’ and offer the (obligatory) prayer only?

He replied:

If a person delays the Sunnah prayer that should be offered
before until after the prayer, if that is because of an excuse then there is
nothing wrong with him making it up later on, and it is acceptable. But if
he had no excuse, then it is not acceptable. What the questioner has
mentioned about the time only being enough to do wudoo’ and offer the
obligatory prayer is an excuse; based on that, it is permissible to make up
the Sunnah prayer that should come before after the prayer, but in this case
one should start with the Sunnah that comes after the obligatory prayer,
then make up the Sunnah that comes before. End quote. Fataawa wa Rasaa’il
Ibn ‘Uthaymeen, 14/194

For more information please see the answer to question no.
114233.

And Allah knows best.

Source:

Islam Q&A

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