Excerpt from “Ghayr Masnoon Nafli Nawafil” by Shaykh Ghulam Mustafa Zaheer Amunpuri
On the occasion of Jumuʿah al-Widāʿ (Last Friday of Ramadan), a new innovation has been invented and popularized, known as "Qadā-e-ʿUmrī" (Lifetime Missed Prayer). This religious fabrication is one of the misguided inventions attributed to Ḥanafī jurists. A prayer was fabricated, and to legitimize it, a fabricated ḥadīth was also concocted. In doing so, they deviated from the beliefs and practices of the Imams of Ḥadīth, creating an independent path in opposition to the consensus and understanding of the scholars of the Ummah. Declaring the opinion of one person to be equal to the collective understanding of the Ummah is a grave tampering with the religion of Islam.
"Adding to the Book of Allah" means including in the Qur’an what does not belong to it, or interpreting it in a manner that contradicts its clear text, as the Jews did by altering and distorting the Torah.
To add to the Book of Allah is disbelief, and to interpret it in contradiction to the Qur’an and Sunnah is innovation.
[Sharḥ al-Mishkāh, 2/772]
"I presented many Qur’anic verses to a group of juristic blind followers (muqallids) on certain issues that opposed their established school (madhhab). They did not accept those verses nor paid attention to them. Instead, they looked at me in amazement, as if to say: 'How can one act upon the apparent meaning of these verses when they oppose what our predecessors said?'
If you deeply reflect, you’ll find that this disease has spread into the veins of most people in this world."
[Tafsīr al-Rāzī, Vol. 16, p. 31]
It is unknown who fabricated this concept and falsely attributed it to the Prophet ﷺ.
"The ḥadīth which says: 'Whoever performs missed (qadā) prayers on the last Friday of Ramaḍān, it will compensate for all the prayers missed over seventy years' is absolutely false.
It contradicts the consensus (ijmāʿ) that nothing can replace missed acts of worship over years.
Furthermore, referencing books like al-Nihāyah or commentaries on al-Hidāyah is not valid here, because their authors were not muḥaddithūn, nor did they attribute this narration to any known compiler of ḥadīth."
[al-Asrār al-Marfuʿah, p. 356, Ḥadīth: 519]
"This narration is undoubtedly fabricated. I did not even find it in any books of fabricated ḥadīths, yet it has become popular among the jurists of Ṣanʿāʾ in our era. Many of them act upon it. I do not know who fabricated it, but may Allah destroy the fabricators."
[al-Fawāʾid al-Majmūʿah, p. 54, Ḥadīth: 115]
❖ The correct response to missed prayers is repentance (tawbah).
❖ There is no such thing in Islam as "Qadā-e-ʿUmrī" — a prayer to compensate for a lifetime of missed prayers.
❖ It is a baseless innovation (bidʿah) and must be avoided.
❖ One must also educate others to protect them from falling into this invented religious practice.
❖ Qadā-e-ʿUmrī: A Fabricated Prayer with No Basis in Islam
On the occasion of Jumuʿah al-Widāʿ (Last Friday of Ramadan), a new innovation has been invented and popularized, known as "Qadā-e-ʿUmrī" (Lifetime Missed Prayer). This religious fabrication is one of the misguided inventions attributed to Ḥanafī jurists. A prayer was fabricated, and to legitimize it, a fabricated ḥadīth was also concocted. In doing so, they deviated from the beliefs and practices of the Imams of Ḥadīth, creating an independent path in opposition to the consensus and understanding of the scholars of the Ummah. Declaring the opinion of one person to be equal to the collective understanding of the Ummah is a grave tampering with the religion of Islam.
❖ Imām Ṭayyibī رحمه الله (d. 743 AH) said:
"Adding to the Book of Allah" means including in the Qur’an what does not belong to it, or interpreting it in a manner that contradicts its clear text, as the Jews did by altering and distorting the Torah.
To add to the Book of Allah is disbelief, and to interpret it in contradiction to the Qur’an and Sunnah is innovation.
[Sharḥ al-Mishkāh, 2/772]
❖ Imām Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī رحمه الله (d. 606 AH) narrated from his teacher:
"I presented many Qur’anic verses to a group of juristic blind followers (muqallids) on certain issues that opposed their established school (madhhab). They did not accept those verses nor paid attention to them. Instead, they looked at me in amazement, as if to say: 'How can one act upon the apparent meaning of these verses when they oppose what our predecessors said?'
If you deeply reflect, you’ll find that this disease has spread into the veins of most people in this world."
[Tafsīr al-Rāzī, Vol. 16, p. 31]
❖ No Such Thing as
It is unknown who fabricated this concept and falsely attributed it to the Prophet ﷺ.
❖ Imām Mullā ʿAlī al-Qārī al-Ḥanafī رحمه الله (d. 1014 AH) said:
"The ḥadīth which says: 'Whoever performs missed (qadā) prayers on the last Friday of Ramaḍān, it will compensate for all the prayers missed over seventy years' is absolutely false.
It contradicts the consensus (ijmāʿ) that nothing can replace missed acts of worship over years.
Furthermore, referencing books like al-Nihāyah or commentaries on al-Hidāyah is not valid here, because their authors were not muḥaddithūn, nor did they attribute this narration to any known compiler of ḥadīth."
[al-Asrār al-Marfuʿah, p. 356, Ḥadīth: 519]
❖ Imām al-Shawkānī رحمه الله (d. 1250 AH) said:
"This narration is undoubtedly fabricated. I did not even find it in any books of fabricated ḥadīths, yet it has become popular among the jurists of Ṣanʿāʾ in our era. Many of them act upon it. I do not know who fabricated it, but may Allah destroy the fabricators."
[al-Fawāʾid al-Majmūʿah, p. 54, Ḥadīth: 115]
Summary:
❖ The correct response to missed prayers is repentance (tawbah).
❖ There is no such thing in Islam as "Qadā-e-ʿUmrī" — a prayer to compensate for a lifetime of missed prayers.
❖ It is a baseless innovation (bidʿah) and must be avoided.
❖ One must also educate others to protect them from falling into this invented religious practice.
