Back to search

What is the ruling on missed prayers, and do supererogatory prayers compensate for missed obligatory prayers?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

A female reaches puberty by one of four signs: menstruation, wet dreams, the growth of coarse hair around the private parts, or reaching the age of fifteen.

If puberty did not occur before the age of fifteen through any of the first three signs, then there is no obligation to make up the prayers missed before that time, as the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: "The pen is lifted from three: from the sleeper until he awakens, from the child until he reaches puberty, and from the insane until he regains his sanity." However, if puberty occurred before the age of fifteen, then the prayers missed during that period must be made up.

Voluntary prayers do not negate the obligation of making up missed obligatory prayers, but they compensate for deficiencies in obligatory prayers on the Day of Judgment, as the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: "Indeed, the first thing a servant will be judged for on the Day of Resurrection is his prayer. If it is found complete, it will be recorded as complete. If there is any deficiency in it, [Allah] will say: 'Look, do you find for My servant any voluntary prayers with which to complete what he neglected of his obligatory prayers?' Then all other deeds will be judged similarly."

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

Read the full answer on Ftawy