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Fatwa CenterMaking up missed voluntary good deeds
Question
Assalaamu alaykum wa rahmatullaahi wa barakaatuhu. I want to know about the following:
1- If one gives Sadaqah (charity money) or saves Sadaqah everyday but out of forgetfulness does not do it, can the person make up for the previous day?
2- If one feeds birds and he happens to forget it one day, can he give them more food the next day instead?
3- If one recites a page from the Quran every day and misses a day or two, can he recite for those missed days or not? Would that be an innovation?
And the same goes for other, similar things. May Allaah reward you.
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.
A Muslim should persevere in doing the voluntary acts of worship that he is used to do, such as saying Thikr (expressions of the remembrance of Allaah), fasting, giving charity, and the like, and it is disliked for him to stop performing those acts of obedience that he is used to do.
Ibn Hajar wrote in Fath Al-Baari, “We deduct from this that it is disliked to stop performing an act of worship, even if it is not obligatory.”
Some scholars stated that a person should make up for the missed good deeds that he was accustomed to do because being negligent in making up for them could be a reason for abandoning them altogether; the book Al-Athkaar, authored by An-Nawawi, reads, “A person who is used to do some Thikr at any time of the day or night, after a prayer, or in some circumstances, and then missed doing them should make up for them and perform them if he is able to, and he should not neglect them, because if he is used to performing them regularly, then he does not risk abandoning them altogether, but if he is negligent in making up for them, then it would be easy for him to not perform them at their times.”
Based on the above, making up for what a person was used to do, such as reciting the Quran, giving charity, or feeding birds is not considered an innovation; rather, it is better and he will be rewarded for doing so.
Allaah knows best.
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