What Are the Rulings for Waking People Up for Prayer?
Hanafi Fiqh
Answered by Mawlana Ilyas Patel
Question
Should I wake people up for Fajr if I see them asleep? What if it is someone who usually doesn’t pray Fajr? Am I sinful for not waking people up for Fajr?
Answer
In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate.
Prayer is a pillar of Islam. It is the second of the five pillars of the Islamic faith. Allah Most High has made prayer an obligation on the believer.
“O you who have believed, seek help through patience and prayer.” [Quran 2:153]
In another verse, He (Most High) says, “Bid your people to pray and be diligent in observing it.” [Quran, 16:132]
It is not obligatory to wake someone up for prayer at the beginning of the prayer. However, it will be necessary when nearing the end of prayer time. [Ibn ‘Abidin, Radd-al-Muhtar]
However, the advice can vary from person to person.
Ruling for Waking Others for Prayer
For those who are one’s dependents and young, there has to be a balance of parental authority and love, training them from the age of seven onwards, being with them in their bed, taking them to the washroom, and showing them love and virtue until they pray and get back in bed.
Those who are not one’s dependents should be woken up with wisdom. If one fears developing hatred or uttering or doing anything wrong, they should not be insisted or woken up. However, when they are awake, one should explain the importance and virtues of the prayers.
Wisdom-based Approach
Our goal should be, be it our children or those under our care in schools, seminaries, maktabs, weekend schools, or adult folk at home, not to force grudging religious compliance. Our goal is to make them love to be religious, and we must use virtues, tactful nurturing, and wisdom of all kinds to bring it about. Our goal should be to use our authority or religious compliance to bring others to love the religion and not adopt ways to drive them away.
Below are Prayer related links for your benefit:
Prayer Reader: The Ultimate Guide To Prayer in Islam
I pray this helps with your question.
Wassalam,
[Mawlana] Ilyas Patel
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
Mawlana Ilyas Patel is a traditionally-trained scholar who has studied in the UK, India, Pakistan, Syria, Jordan, and Turkey. He started his early education in the UK. He went on to complete the hifz of the Quran in India, then enrolled in an Islamic seminary in the UK, where he studied the secular and ‘Aalimiyya sciences. He then traveled to Karachi, Pakistan. He has been an Imam in Rep of Ireland for several years. He has taught hifz of the Quran, Tajwid, Fiqh, and many other Islamic sciences to children and adults onsite and online extensively in the UK and Ireland. He taught at a local Islamic seminary for 12 years in the UK, where he was a librarian and a teacher of Islamic sciences. He currently resides in the UK with his wife. His interest is a love of books and gardening.
