I am researching on what Islam teaches us regarding making up our missed Salah (prayers).
Note: I am not a scholar of Islam and thus I will try to quote scholars. As always, you will need to verify the authenticity of the statements and ultimately refer back to the Quran and Sahih Hadith.
Obligation of daily prayer
“…But when you are secure, establish regular prayers. Indeed, performing prayers is a duty on the believers at the appointed times.”
Qur’an 4:103
Missing Salah without excuse is a sin
Deliberately missing the 5 daily Farz (compulsory) prayers is a major sin according to most scholars.
“But they were succeeded by generations who neglected prayer and followed their lusts and so will soon face the evil consequences.”
Quran 19:59
It was narrated that Jabir bin ‘Abdullah said: “The Messenger of Allah said: ‘Between a person and Kufr (disbelief) is abandoning the prayer.’”
Sunan Ibn Majah 1078 (Sahih: Darussalam)
Expiation (Qaza) of Salah is allowed in cases of sleep or forgetting
Anas bin Malik reported the Prophet as saying: If any one forgets a prayer or oversleeps, he should observe it when he remembers it ; there is no expiation for it except that.
Sunan Abi Dawud 442 (Sahih: Albani)
This Hadith explains the exceptional case of oversleeping or forgetting. We are commanded to pray the ‘qaza’ immediately after waking up or remembering.
In this case, preserve the order of prayers
According to Assim Al Hakeem, we need to preserve the order, For example, if someone misses Fajr, due to a genuine reason, as mentioned above, and wakes up during Zohar time, he should pray Fajr first and then Zohar, except when Zohar time is extremely limited. This preserves the order.
Different views on general qaza
There are 2 views. Both sides seem to agree that deliberately not praying Farz Salah is a (major?) sin. The one who misses Salah needs to ask for forgiveness.
The Hadith above clearly mentions the exceptional situations and commands us to immediately pray the missed Salah. The difference of opinion is about whether we can offer Qaza of the Salah that have accumulated and not that were not immediately made up after remembering/waking up.
General qaza is allowed
View of Mufti Muhammad Akmal
General qaza is not allowed
View of Ibn Hazm and Ibn Taymiyah, Assim Al Hakeem
Correct view
As I mentioned before, I am not in a position to evaluate which opinion is more valid. I am just compiling the existing opinions and views:
According to IslamQA, the answer, supervised by Shaykh Muhammad Saalih al-Munajjid, mentions that the correct view is to not to offer qaza, except in the situations mentioned in the Hadith above.