Question

AsSalamu Alaikum

I am a Shafii who is recently trying to shift to the Hanafi madhab for familial reasons and easier access to qualified scholarship. In this regard, this has implications on my Qada salah that I wanted to clarify.

I have more than 10 years of Qadha due to not praying in my youth but alhamdullilah Allah ﷻ has guided me to be praying and to start the journey of starting to make up those salahs a few years ago. Given that I am intending to switch madhabs I want to handle this situation properly.

1) Given the high number of Qadha salahs I have to make up, how many should I do a day or is there a minimum amount below which I would be sinful?

2) Should I pray my Sunnah Muakadah prayers or should I pray Qadha?

3) How should I make my intention for Qadha prayers given the high volume and the fact that I don’t know the order of them or anything like that?

4) Should/can I pray taraweeh?

5) Since I was Shafii and Witr is not wajib in the Shafii madhab, I was not praying Witr and was praying Qadha instead as is recommended in the Shafii madhab. I intend to start praying Witr inshaAllah, but do I need to make up past Witr prayers missed or should I prioritize the 5 daily Qadha prayers?

Answer

Waʿalaykum al-Salām wa raḥmat Allāh wa Barakātuh. 

In the name of Allah, The Most Gracious, The Most Merciful.

1. When making up salat, one may pray one qaḍāʾ salat before or after every farḍ salat. For example, after every ẓuhr salat, one makes up one ẓuhr salat. You can pray a few extra qaḍāʾ salats if you have some time off.
2. You should continue praying your sunnah muʾakkadah salats.
3. When praying qaḍāʾ, one should have the intention of making up the very first salats they missed, then the next, then the next, and so on.
4. You will continue praying tarāwīḥ as it is also sunnah muʾakkadah. You may choose to pray alone so that you may have extra time to dedicate to qaḍāʾ salats.
5. You do not need to make up the witr salats from the time that you followed the Shāfiʿī madhhab.

And Allah knows best.