Back to search

Whoever was in a period of his life where he feigned, is he required to make up those prayers?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

Hypocrisy (Riya') is a blameworthy trait in Islamic law. A Muslim must be sincere in their actions for the sake of Allah the Almighty. Allah the Almighty says: "So woe to those who pray [But] who are heedless of their prayer Those who make show [of their deeds]." And His saying: "So whoever would hope for the meeting with his Lord - let him do righteous work and not associate anyone with the worship of his Lord."

Pure hypocrisy (Riya' mahd) invalidates the action. If the origin of the action was for Allah, and then a thought of hypocrisy occurred and was repelled, it does not harm. If one indulged in it, there is a difference of opinion, but Imam Ahmad preferred that his action would not be invalidated by that. If the intention of obedience predominates, there is no sin. If the intention of hypocrisy predominates, he incurs sin. If the two motivations are equal, there is neither reward nor sin.

It is permissible to follow the opinion that prayer is not invalidated by hypocrisy, even if it is a less preferred opinion, so he is not required to make up his missed prayers.

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

Read the full answer on Ftawy