Missed Prayers Calculator
How many prayers do you owe? Count them from puberty, or from your shahada if you became Muslim later, see them per prayer, and pick a pace to finish. An estimate to plan with, not a fatwa.
Your start
Not sure? Leave 15, the common fallback. Many boys and girls reach puberty earlier, by its signs: a wet dream, or a first period.
Your missed prayers
Add your date of birth or your shahada date to see the count.
Became Muslim later? Your page is clean
This is the most important line on this page. A person who becomes Muslim owes no prayers from before the shahada. Not from last year, not from when you were 15. The Prophet (peace be upon him) said to ‘Amr ibn al-‘As when he became Muslim: “Do you not know that Islam wipes out what came before it?” (Muslim). The scholars agree on this, and Allah says: “Tell those who disbelieve that if they stop, what is past will be forgiven them” (Quran 8:38).
So if you took your shahada and have prayed ever since, the count is zero. If there were weeks or months after your shahada while you were still learning, only those count, and they are usually far fewer than people fear. Choose I took my shahada in the calculator to see your own number.
How qada works
A prayer missed after puberty is made up (qada) in the same form: Fajr 2 rakat, Dhuhr 4, Asr 4, Maghrib 3 and Isha 4. The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “Whoever forgets a prayer or sleeps through it, its expiation is to pray it when he remembers” (Muslim). For years of missed prayers, the usual advice is simple:
- Pray today‘s five on time first. They come before everything.
- Add one qada with each prayer, for example a qada Fajr with today‘s Fajr. That is one day made up every day.
- Make the intention for a specific one: “the earliest Dhuhr I still owe”. Some say “the last”; either is fine.
- Make up only the fard. You do not owe the sunnah prayers, and you do not owe Witr outside the Hanafi school.
- When you can, add a second or third set. The calculator shows what that does to the finish date.
The order. In the Hanafi school, someone with fewer than six missed prayers prays them in order, before the current prayer, unless its time is running out. With six or more, the order is no longer required. Maliki and Hanbali scholars also keep the order, with their own details; Shafi‘i scholars recommend it. Step by step, with sleep and forgetting, in missed a prayer? how to make it up.
Women: period days are not made up
Prayers missed during menstruation (hayd) and postnatal bleeding (nifas) are excused completely and never made up; on this the scholars agree. Choose a woman in the calculator and enter your average period days a month (6 is filled in, change it to yours) and, if you have given birth, the days of bleeding after each birth added up. They come off the count. The schools differ on the longest a period can last: 10 days for Hanafis, 15 for the others.
Learn the prayer you are making up
Not sure of a prayer yet? Learn it in the step by step prayer guide, check how many rakat each prayer has, or pray along with the audio in pray along.
Questions about missed prayers
I became Muslim as an adult. Do I have to make up prayers from before?
No. Not one. The Prophet (peace be upon him) said that Islam wipes out what came before it (Muslim), and the scholars agree that a person who becomes Muslim owes no prayers or fasts from before the shahada. Your count starts on the day you became Muslim. If you prayed regularly from that day, you owe nothing. Do reverts make up missed prayers?
From what age do prayers count?
From puberty. It is known by its signs, such as a wet dream or a first period, and some schools add others. With no signs, most scholars take 15 years, which is why the calculator starts there. Abu Hanifa himself gave a later age, but the Hanafi school rules by 15 as well. The schools count lunar years, so 15 is a few months under 15 ordinary years. The calculator counts lunar years too.
Is it really necessary to make up years of missed prayers?
For prayers missed after puberty by a Muslim, the four Sunni schools say yes: they stay a debt, along with sincere repentance. A small number of scholars held that a prayer left on purpose cannot be made up and that repentance and many voluntary prayers take its place. Mainstream fiqh asks you to make them up, bit by bit, without despair.
Do women make up prayers missed during their period?
No. Prayers during menstruation and postnatal bleeding are never made up; this is agreed. Fasts missed in Ramadan for the same reason are made up. That is why the calculator takes the period days off. Prayer and your period
Do I make up Witr and the sunnah prayers?
The sunnah prayers are not owed. Witr depends on the school: Hanafis hold it is wajib and make it up, so they count six prayers a day. Maliki, Shafi’i and Hanbali scholars hold it is a sunnah, so it is not owed, though making it up is good.
Can I pray several qada prayers in a row?
Yes. You can pray a whole day of missed prayers in one sitting, or one qada after each prayer you pray. Pick a pace you can keep. A small amount every day is better than a lot once and then nothing.
What if I do not know how many I missed?
Estimate on the high side, so you are sure the debt is covered. That is what this calculator is for. If you die before finishing, Allah sees your effort; the Hanafi school also asks you to leave a bequest for fidya for what is left. An imam can help you with your own case.
Is anything I type here saved or sent?
No. The calculator runs in your browser and nothing is sent anywhere or stored.