{"_id":"6a50044952b732b08136837e","title":"{\"ops\":[{\"insert\":\"What should I do if I doubt whether I prayed an obligatory prayer?\\n\"}]}","question":"{\"ops\":[{\"insert\":\"What is the ruling in the Shafiʿi school if I am unsure whether I prayed an obligatory prayer?\\n\"}]}","answer":"{\"ops\":[{\"insert\":\"The ruling depends on what exactly is doubtful. Scholars distinguish between two scenarios:\\n\\n1. Doubt About Obligation: You are uncertain whether a previous prayer was ever incumbent upon you. In this scenario, the ruling is that it was not obligatory. No make-up is required, since the duty was never established upon your liability (dhimmah), and the default presumption is clearance of liability (barāʾat al-dhimmah).\\n\\n2. Doubt About Performance: You are certain that a prayer was obligatory, but you are unsure if you performed it. In this case, you must make it up. because the default presumption is non-performance.\\n\\nSince you asked specifically about \\\"doubting whether you prayed\\\" (not whether it was obligatory), the second case applies.\\n\\nThe underlying fiqhī (legal) principle is that \\\"certainty is not removed by doubt\\\" (al-yaqīn lā yazūlu bi-l-shakk). In this situation, there is certainty that the prayer was obligatory and became binding upon your liability (dhimmah). However, there is doubt as to whether it was subsequently performed and thus discharged. The original presumption (al-aṣl) is that actions are assumed not done until proven otherwise. Therefore, doubt about performance does not remove the certainty of obligation, and make-up is required.\\n\\nOne might ask: Aren't these really the same doubt in disguise, since doubting whether it was ever owed could be framed as doubting whether it was prayed?\\n\\nThe answer given by jurists is that the two doubts attach to different legal questions. Doubt about obligation is doubt about whether something new arose against an original state of clearance of liability (barāʾat al-dhimmah). Doubt about performance is doubt about whether something already fixed upon the liability was discharged.\\n\"}]}","tags":[{"_id":"668d9fe30b76658b4c23281e","tag":"Salah: Other","count":150},{"_id":"676ac011631b2ecff5b5cb60","tag":"Doubt","count":3}],"createdOn":"2026-07-09T20:27:53.368Z"}