Got busy with completing his Wudu until the time for prayer elapsed

5-4-2012 | IslamWeb

Question:

Assalamu alaykum, if you follow the opinion that anybody who misses one prayer out of laziness will be considered as a disbeliever. Does it constitute kufr if you are short in time, because the time of prayer is nearly over and you do your wudoo calmly and don't do only the obligatory parts of wudoo (for example you wash your body parts twice, you start with washing your hands etc.), and after wudoo you put some socks on, walk calmly to the place where you pray, etc. although all this acts aren't obligatory and you could be faster to pray the prayer in time and thus the time of prayer is over. Is this considered as missing the prayer out of laziness? I am afraid that i became a kafir because sometimes the time for prayer was short and i had acted in this way. If you didn't repent this behaviour especially, but you pray after that further prayers. Are these prayers valid which you have offered thereafter? Or do you have to repent from these acts and then repeat the prayers which you have offered? Jazakumullahu khayran.

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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.

 

First of all, you should know that whispers are a chronic disease, so you must strive to avoid and ignore them and not pay any attention to them.

You should know that deliberately delaying the prayer and not performing it until its prescribed fixed time has expired is not permissible and it is one of the grave major sins. If a person fears that the time of the prayer would expire, it is not permissible for him to be preoccupied by one of the Sunan (plural of Sunnah, i.e. a recommended act) of ablution; rather, he must limit himself to doing only what is obligatory, as stated by the scholars .

For example, Al-Khateeb Ash-Shirbeeni said: "When the expiry time for a given prayer is very near, such that the time for prayer would expire if one were to occupy himself with washing each limb thrice, then one is instructed to abandon washing each limb thrice, and such washing becomes prohibited”

Therefore, if one knows that the appointed time of the prayer is close to expiry, and he deliberately acts slowly and engages in things that he should not engage in (because the time of the current prayer is close to expiry), such a person would be considered as abandoning the prayer until its due time is over.

 

However, a person who leaves the prayer until its prescribed fixed time is over does not go out of the fold of Islam according to the view of the majority of the scholars. Nonetheless, whoever does this is obliged to repent to Allaah and be keen on performing the prayer at its prescribed fixed time.

On the other hand, if a person prays after the prescribed fixed time of the prayer is over, he is not obliged to make up this prayer and his prayer is sufficient but he should repent for being neglectful and delaying the prayer until its prescribed fixed time is over.

Allaah Knows best.