Am I Required To Make Up Prayers if I Was Only Muslim by Name?

Answered by Shaykh Yusuf Weltch

 

Question 

Am I required to make up missed prayers, fasts, etc… if I didn’t believe in Islam, didn’t consider myself a Muslim, although I was born in a Muslim family and publicly called myself a Muslim?

Answer

In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate

Obligatory prayers, fastings, charities, etc… are only obligatory on adult muslims who have their sanity intact. [Ibn ‘Abidin, Radd al-Muhtar] 

If you were not Muslim at that time, you are not required to make up any obligations. If these obligations were missed prior to your reaching puberty, you are not obliged to make them up. [Ibid.]

Embracing Faith By One’s Own Choice

It is common for people to follow the religion of their parents, even if just by name. This also applies to Muslims. For such people, there comes a time where they decide to embrace their own faith by their own volition.

When this occurs, the blessing of Islam and the profoundness of what it means to have a relationship with one’s Creator begin to open up upon the heart. The serenity that is experienced at the onset of one’s self embracement and realization of one’s purpose in life is hard to explain and almost impossible to show it the gratitude it deserves.

Knowledge, the Pillar of Faith

It seems from your question, even though you may not have been muslim then, that now you are in the process of reconnecting to Islam. I pray that Allah Most High blesses you and put the light of guidance in your heart. The first and most important step for anyone in your situation is to, slowly but methodically, seek a deeper understanding of Islamic knowledge. 

Begin with the sciences of Islamic beliefs and Islamic jurisprudence. Consider the classes offered here at www.seekersguidance.org/courses

Advice

In your seeking of knowledge and your furthering of your connection with your religion, strive for moderation, consistency, and quality over quantity. Most importantly, ask Allah Most High to assist you and bless you in all that you seek.

Hope this helps

Allah knows best

[Shaykh] Yusuf Weltch

 

Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

Shaykh Yusuf Weltch is a teacher of Arabic, Islamic law, and spirituality. After accepting Islam in 2008, he completed four years at the Darul Uloom seminary in New York, where he studied Arabic and the traditional sciences. He then traveled to Tarim, Yemen, where he stayed for three years studying in Dar Al-Mustafa under some of the greatest scholars of our time, including Habib Umar Bin Hafiz, Habib Kadhim al-Saqqaf, and Shaykh Umar al-Khatib. In Tarim, Shaykh Yusuf completed the memorization of the Qur’an and studied beliefs, legal methodology, hadith methodology, Qur’anic exegesis, Islamic history, and several texts on spirituality. He joined the SeekersGuidance faculty in the summer of 2019.