Making Up a Missed Prayer

Question: What is the ruling on someone who forgot to perform the ʿIshāʾ prayer and did not remember it until the time of Fajr? Kindly advise, and may Allah bless you.

Answer: First, a Muslim must give great care to his prayer, performing it on time and in congregation, without laziness or delay, for negligence invites loss and forgetfulness. If, however, a person forgets or oversleeps and thus fails to pray within its appointed time, then the moment he remembers he must hasten to perform that prayer, at whatever time the recollection occurs. The Prophet ﷺ said: “Whoever forgets a prayer or sleeps through it, let him pray it when he remembers it; there is no expiation for it other than that.” He—Most High—also says: “Establish the prayer for My remembrance” (20:14).

Therefore, once a person awakens or remembers, he is obliged to pray the missed ʿIshāʾ immediately, then pray Fajr afterward—that is, he performs the missed prayer first, followed by the current one. He must not pray the current prayer before the missed one, because maintaining this order is obligatory and may not be neglected.

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Question: If someone misses one of the five daily prayers—whether through sleep or some other cause—should he delay making it up until its time comes around the next day, or must he perform it as soon as the excuse is removed?