Can I Offer Sunna if the Fard of Fajr Prayer Has Only Four Minutes Left?

Answered by Shaykh Yusuf Weltch

Question

If you only have four minutes left to pray fajr and you aren’t sure if you would pray a part of the fajr fard prayer after the sun already set, should you still pray the sunna prayer, or is it better to only pray the fard prayer?

Answer

In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate

If one is reasonably sure that they can perform the pre-Fajr Sunna prayers and the obligatory Fajr prayer before the end of Fajr time, then it is ideal for them to do so. [Ibn ‘Abidin, Radd al-Muhtar]

However, if one is not reasonably sure they can perform both prayers, they will only pray the Fajr prayer. [Ibid.]

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 then 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 a number of texts on spirituality. He joined the SeekersGuidance faculty in the summer of 2019.