Wrong Belief about Apostasy

25-2-2018 | IslamWeb

Question:

Assalamualaikum,I know that denying the obligation of prayer is considered apostasy but for a while I used to believe that it would be okay to miss and pray qadha for a prayer if it fell in the middle of exams since it might result in fldoing badly ot failing the exam. I can't remember why exactly I believed such a thing, since I looked up some fatwa and they mentioned it was okay to join prayer if it was a necessity, but I wasn't familiar with the concept of joining prayers at the time and thought since it was a necessity, it would be okay (and not sinful) to miss. Would this also have been apostasy?Thank you

---

Answer:

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

This is undoubtedly a wrong belief.

It is not permissible at all to deliberately delay the prayer until its prescribed fixed time has elapsed; rather, doing so is one of the grave major sins.

Also, combining two prayers that can be combined [like Thuhr and ‘Asr, or Maghrib and ‘Ishaa’] is not permissible except for a sound excuse such as travel, illness, or other matters that are mentioned by the scholars.

Your belief stems from your ignorance of the Sharee’ah, so this is not apostasy because an ignorant person is excused until the evidence is established against him, as Allah Says (what means): {And never would We punish until We sent a messenger.} [Quran 17:15]

Therefore, you should endeavor to learn the rulings of the Sharee’ah so as not to fall into such wrong beliefs, and avoid whispers and do not give in to them; otherwise, this will lead you to a great evil.

Allah knows best.