Ethics of Islam

instead of prayers that are sunnat muakkad [1] ,” in books of Fiqh,
means, “farz prayers omitted for (reasons which Islam accepts
and calls) ’udhr.” If a prayer of salât (which is farz) is omitted
without an ’udhr, it is farz to perform it immediately. Prayers of
this sort must therefore be performed instead the prayers that are
sunnat. Imâm-i-Rabbânî ‘quddisa sirruh’ states in the hundred
and twenty-third letter: “If supererogatory (nâfila) worship
retards an act of worship which is farz, it is no longer worship; it
is harmful passtime (mâ-lâ-ya’nî).”]
[Great Islamic scholar Ibni Âbidîn ‘rahmatullâhi ’aleyh’ says,
It is an act of sunnat to perform two rak’ats of salât when you
enter a mosque. This is called ‘tahiyyatul-masjîd’. Any category
of salât, e.g. farz, sunnat, or qadâ, which you perform upon
entering a mosque, will also stand for tahiyyat-ul-masjîd. As you
perform one of these kinds of salât, you do not have to also make
your niyyat, (i.e. intend,) that you are to perform tahiyyat-ulmasjîd.
Not so is the case with a salât performed (within its
prescribed time and) with a double niyyat, i.e. both as the farz
and as the sunnat of the time, in which case only the salât which
is farz will be sahîh (valid). For, a salât which is farz (obligatory)
and that which is nâfila (supererogatory) are two different
categories of namâz (salât). Since any sort of salât performed
(upon entering a mosque) stands also for tahiyyat-ul-masjîd, the
salât called tahiyyat-ul-masjîd takes on the nature of the salât
performed in its place. Any salât performed will also stand for
another in the same category without an additional niyyat.
However, an additional niyyat is required for the generation of
thawâb (reward in the Hereafter), for an act of worship
performed without a niyyat will not be given any thawâb.” ‘Salât
which is sunnat’ means ‘one which is performed in addition to the
salât which is farz’. Because a salât of qadâ performed before or
after the salât which is farz fits in with the definition of a ‘salât
which is sunnat’, salâts of qadâ and those which are sunnat fall
into the same category. According to hadrat Ibni Âbidîn, when a
salât of qadâ is performed the (time’s) sunnat also will have been
[1] Prayers of salât which our blessed Prophet ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’
performed in addition to each of the obligatory (farz) five daily
prayers, are termed ‘sunnat’. Islamic scholars categorize the sunnats in
two groups: ‘sunnat muakkad’, which means, ‘sunnat which is
emphatic and close to being farz (obligatory); and ‘sunnat ghyr-imuakkad’
which means ‘sunnat which is not emphatic’.
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