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Is the sin of sleeping after the prayer time has begun, without a strong presumption of waking up, greater than fornication, drinking alcohol, and killing a soul?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

If someone sleeps after the time for prayer has begun, intending to wake up before the time expires, but they are not reasonably certain they will wake up, and then miss the prayer, they are considered negligent. However, their negligence does not reach the level of guilt of someone who is awake, has no excuse, and does not intend to pray at all; this latter person commits a greater sin. Ibn Al-Qayyim reported the consensus of Muslims that intentionally abandoning a fard (obligatory) prayer is one of the gravest sins and major transgressions, and its sin is greater than the sin of taking a life, seizing property, fornication, theft, and drinking alcohol.

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

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