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, may Allaah exalt is mention as well as that of his family and all his companions.

The people of knowledge differ about the person who misses obligatory prayers whether he has the right to perform optional prayers or just to make up the missed prayers. Some of them say he does pray optional prayers.

Ibn Rushd said: 'A person who missed any of the optional prayers does not have to make them up, except the Witr of the previous night and the two optional Raka'h before Fajr of the current day.' This is the view of the Maaliki school.

Ibn Al-‘Arabi is of a different opinion, as he said: 'He can perform optional prayers, and should not prevent himself from performing a good act.'

However, some of the people of knowledge distinguished between stressed supererogatory prayers and the unrestricted optional prayers. They allowed performing stressed supererogatory prayers and said that non-stressed optional prayers are not allowed.

The author of Kashfaf Al-Qina said: 'It is not permissible for a person who had missed obligatory prayers to perform unrestricted optional prayers… he says: 'The meaning is that it is permissible to perform confirmed optional prayers after obligatory prayers, like confirmed regular optional prayers and Witr because they follow the obligatory prayers, and they are like the obligatory prayers. And if the missed obligatory prayers are not many, then he can pray the Rawaatib Sunnah after praying the obligatory prayer on time. As the Prophet prayed the Sunnah of  Fajr (before making up the obligatory prayer of Fajr).'

As for the ruling of growing beard, please read the Fatwa: 81978 and 81533.

Allaah knows best.