Fatwa

  1. Fatwa
  2. Salah (Prayer)
  3. Conditions of the Validity of Salah
  4. Knowledge that the time of Salah has begun

She doubts that she prayed before the right time
Fatwa No: 231106

Question

assalamu 'alaykum i prayed isha, but i didnt look at the time, so i feel uncertain now did i do it on its due time, or did i do it before its time???... i have a feeling that before getting up for prayer when i last had a glimpse at my watch, i think it was 6.20, but im not too sure, as i didnt look properly, it could have been just the seconds hand that was on the 4 (20) rather the minutes hand - my watch has 3 hands, one for the hour, one for minute and one for seconds... so not sure what time it was when i prayed, but if it was 6.20, then that is fine, in sha Allaah... also, when i got up, mom was watching something on tv, after i prayed when i started to get doubts on whether or not i prayed in due time, i checked the time of when that programme started, it said 6.23, but sometimes the start time that is stated isnt actually exactly the time it starts at, it could have started before 6.23, to me it seemed like it started around 6 rather 6.23, but i cannot say for sure... so the prayer time was around 6.09pm, but im not sure of the time i prayed isha, i forgot to look at the time... should i be repeating this prayer? i pray the isha prayer according to the times given in islamicfinder, in which it said isha starts at 6.09pm... however, in some other timetables, usually of the mosques, they tend to state an earlier time; according to one of the mosque's prayer timetable (not my local, but in the same city as me... i dont have mosque local to me) isha prayer started at 5.50pm. if isha started at 5.50pm then i reckon i prayed isha on time.. However, i consider the isha prayer times on islamicfinder to be more accurate, so i tend to look at their timetable when it comes to isha prayer, and according islamicfinder, isha started at 6.09pm, and im not sure if i prayed after this time or before this time, because i had forgotton to look at my watch before starting to pray

Answer

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad is His slave and messenger.

It is not permissible for a Muslim to start praying unless he/she is sure or has probable cause to believe that the time of prayer has started. So if you started the ‘Ishaa' prayer and had probable cause to believe that the time of the prayer had begun, then your prayer is valid, and any doubts that you have afterward should not be considered. Doubts about an act of worship after having finished it does not affect its validity, so they should not be considered.

It seems that you are affected by obsessive whispers. If so, you should totally ignore them and not pay them any mind.

You are not obligated to make up the prayer unless when you started the prayer, you did not believe that it was time for prayer. Nonetheless, it appears to us that the doubts you have are only obsessive whispers, so you should ignore them.

Allaah Knows best.

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