30th December 2013
السلام عليكم و رحمة الله و بركاته
Question: At work, if three people have entered the prayer room and one wants to read his Sunnats first then Fardh but the other two due to time restrictions want to perform the Fardh Salāh straight away and start to read it. Should the individual forsake his Sunnats and join the Jamā’ah or read his Sunnat and then read Fardh individually.
الجواب حامداً و مصلياً
In the name of Allāh, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
Answer:
If by time restriction you mean that there is sufficient time to perform the Fardh Salāh only then one can forsake the Sunnah unit prayer otherwise not.[1] It must be noted one should not make it a habit to delay the fardh towards its end time not allowing sufficient time to read the Sunnat Muakkadah prayer. This will otherwise make one sinful for abandoning the Sunnat Muakkadah prayer unnecessarily. This, however, does not apply to Sunnat Ghair Mu’akkadah prayer.
[Allãh Knows Best]
Written by (Mufti) Abdul Waheed
Answer Attested by Shaykh Mufti Saiful Islam
JKN Fatawa Department
[1] Marāqi alal Falah, Bab Idrakil fareedhah, p. 176
ويتطوع قبل الفرض بمؤكد وغيره مقيما أو مسافرا إن أمن فوت الوقت ولو منفردا……. وإلا أي وإن لم يأمن بأن يفوته الوقت أو الجماعة بالتنفل أو إزالة نجس قليل “فلا” يتطوع