What is the ruling of the Duha Salah (prayer)?

Uploaded Jan 15, 2024
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Question

What is the ruling of the Duha Salah (prayer)? And if a person prays it for a while, then abandons it, is he obligated to pray it or not? And is it correct to repent and return to (praying) it? Please answer this question, thank you.

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Sheikh Ibn Uthaymeen
The Sunnah of the Duha or the Duha prayer, the scholars differed in regard to it being a Sunnah. Some of them don’t consider it to be a Sunnah, some of them consider it to be a Sunnah unrestrictedly at two times, and some of them believe that it is a Sunnah for those who do not pray Tahajjud (night prayer) at night and that it is not a Sunnah for those who pray Tahajjud at night. The overweighing ruling to me is that it is an unrestricted Sunnah, for when the Messenger of Allah ﷺ mentioned that Sadaqah (charity) is due upon every person every morning for every part of his body, he said ﷺ, “And the two Rak'as of the Duha prayer (Salah) suffice all of that.” So, this indicates that a person should pray two Rak’ahs in the Duha (morning) of every day so that he makes sure of performing the Sadaqah (charity) that is due upon him for every part of his body. And whatever Tasbih he makes (saying SubhanAllah), Tahleel (saying La Ilaha illa Allah), reciting the Qur’an, enjoining good and forbidding evil, and other good deeds will increase his hasanat (good deeds). Question: But he is also asking about its continuity, is it permissible to stop praying it? Sheikh: As for the permissibility of stopping it, then yes, it is permissible for a person to stop it just as it is permissible to stop other voluntary actions. However, when a person starts preforming an action, he should establish and continue preforming it. That’s because this is the habit of the Prophet ﷺ; if he performed a deed, he would continue it. And he said to a man of his companions, “Do not be like so-and-so, he used to pray half of the night, then he abandoned the night prayer.”

Additional references

The Series of Fatwas of Noorun Ala Addarb for his eminence the scholar sheikh Muhammad Ibn Ibn Uthaymeen Tape: 3 Fatwa: 2