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What is the ruling on one who deliberately abandons the regular Sunnah prayers for years, and must they be made up?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

A Muslim should not intentionally abandon the regular supererogatory prayers (Sunan Rawatib) without a valid excuse, for by doing so, he misses out on great good and reward, as these prayers compensate for any deficiencies in the obligatory prayers. The first thing a servant will be held accountable for on the Day of Judgment is his prayer, and if there is any deficiency in it, Allah will complete it from the voluntary prayers. The obligatory duty for a Muslim is only the five prescribed prayers; whoever abandons them will be punished. As for the Sunan, whoever performs them is rewarded, but whoever abandons them is not punished, nor is he required to make them up, though he forfeits the reward. Sheikh Ibn Baz clarified that abandoning the Sunan does not entail any sin, but it means forsaking competition in good deeds.

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

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