Muslims who accidentally perform their prayers at the wrong time while travelling abroad may have to repeat them, depending on whether the prayer was performed before or after the prescribed time.
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) Faculty of Islamic Studies dean Professor Datuk Dr Mohd Izhar Ariff explained that the ruling depends on the nature of the timing error.
Using South Korea as an example, he said a Malaysian travelling there cannot simply rely on Malaysia’s prayer timetable without checking whether the prescribed prayer time has already begun at their destination.
“If the prayer is performed after its time has begun in that country, the prayer is valid.
“If it is performed before the prayer time begins, all obligatory prayers are invalid and must be performed again as qada, but the person is not sinful.
“If the prayer is performed after its prescribed time has ended because of a miscalculation, the person is also not sinful but must perform qada for all prayers that were performed at the wrong time,” he said in a Facebook post.
Mohd Izhar was responding to a Threads post by actress Janna Nick, who said she had mistakenly followed the wrong prayer times while travelling in a foreign country.
He explained that if the mistake continued for three days, as mentioned by Janna, the individual should review every prayer performed during that period.
The person must determine whether each prayer was performed after its actual time had begun, before it had started or after the prescribed period had ended.
Mohd Izhar stressed that each situation carries a different ruling, making it important for travellers to check local prayer times carefully when abroad.
The clarification highlights the importance of referring to prayer times at the destination rather than automatically following the timetable used in Malaysia.
