Question: What does observing tarteeb among the five daily salats mean?
ANSWER
Tarteeb means performing the five daily salats in order.

It is fard upon a person to observe the order when he is performing the five daily salats and Salat al-Witr as well as when he is performing their qada.

[To carry out a salat within its prescribed time period is called adaa. To carry it out after its prescribed time has ended is called qada. Throughout this article, we will use the verb make up to mean to perform qada.]

A person who could not wake up for Salat al-Fajr has to make it up as soon as he remembers it, even if he remembers it during the khutba. Unless a person performs a fard salat or makes it up [if he has missed it], it is not permissible for him to perform the five salats following it. A hadith-i sharif declares: “If a person who has slept through the time of a salat or has forgotten to perform it remembers it while performing the following salat in jama’at, he must finish the salat together with the imam and then make up the previous salat. Then he must repeat the one that he has performed with the imam.”

[For example, if a person has forgotten to perform Salat az-Zuhr and the time for Salat al-Asr has started, he, if he is a saahib-i tarteeb, must make up Salat az-Zuhr first. Similarly, if a saahib-i tarteeb [saahib-i tarteeb is a person who does not have any qada salats or whose qada salats do not exceed five] has slept through the time of Salat az-Zuhr and consequently has missed it, he must make up Salat az-Zuhr first and then perform Salat al-Asr.]

If a person, before he begins Salat al-Fajr or while he is performing it, remembers that he did not perform Salat al-Witr, his Salat al-Fajr will not be accepted unless he makes up Salat al-Witr first. The Salat al-Fajr will be accepted only when the remaining time before sunrise permits the performance of only Salat al-Witr. This means that if at the end of a salat time there is not enough time to perform a qada salat also, the necessity of performing the qada first lapses.

If a person who performed the fard of the current salat while thinking that there was very little time left finds out later that there is enough time, he must perform the qada salat first and then repeat the current fard.

If he, when he begins the current salat or while he is performing it, forgets that he has a qada salat, the current salat is accepted even if he remembers his qada salat after the current salat because it is an excuse to forget.

[For example, if he, while performing Salat al-Fajr, forgets the fact that he did not perform Salat al-Witr, his Salat al-Fajr will be valid, even if he remembers his qada salat after Salat al-Fajr. However, it will not be valid if he remembers his qada while performing Salat al-Fajr. He, in such a case, must make up Salat al-Witr first. I will give another example: Supposing that he missed Salat al-Fajr. If he performs Salat az-Zuhr even though he remembers that he did not perform Salat al-Fajr, his Salat az-Zuhr will not be valid. However, if he forgets the fact that he did not perform Salat al-Fajr and performs Salat az-Zuhr, then his Salat az-Zuhr will be valid because forgetting is an excuse.]

Another reason that clears the necessity for order of time for adaa and qada is when the total number of one’s qada salats equals six. A person who missed six fard salats or performed them but they were unacceptable is not a saahib-i tarteeb. In this case, he does not have to pay attention to the sequence of time between the qada salats themselves or between the qada salats and the daily salats that he is to perform in time. For example, if a person who has not performed a fard salat performs the following five salats though he remembers that he missed a fard salat, the five salats will not be accepted, and as a result, the number of salats that he has not performed will be six. Salat al-Witr is not taken into consideration here. But those fard salats that were not performed in the past are added into the calculation.

Another reason that eliminates the necessity of observing the order of time between the qada salats themselves or between the qada salats and the daily salats is not to know the fact that time order is compulsory. It is excusable not to know something on which there is no Nass or ijma’ (consensus). For example, if a person who has not performed Salat al-Fajr performs Salat az-Zuhr though he remembers that he did not perform Salat al-Fajr, the Salat az-Zuhr will not be acceptable. Afterwards, if he makes up Salat al-Fajr and then performs Salat al-Asr, the Salat al-Asr will be acceptable because he thinks that the Salat az-Zuhr that he performed has been accepted.

If a person has more than five salats to make up and if, when he is making them up, the number of salats that he did not perform becomes fewer than six, the necessity of observing the time order does not reapply. He may perform the remaining salats without paying attention to their sequence.

When the number of salats he has performed before he makes up his qada salats and the number of his qada salats add up to six, the salats that he has performed [before making up his qada] become acceptable. For example, if a person has missed one fard salat or Salat al-Witr, the subsequent salats he will perform will not be accepted. If he makes up the missed salat before performing the fifth salat, the salats that he has performed fall into the category of voluntary (nafilah) salats. If the time of the fifth salat that he has performed is over before he makes up the missed salat, the total number of salats not accepted, when added to the missed salat, equals six. In this case, the five salats he performed become acceptable.

However, during each salat that he performs he must remember that he has a salat to make up. If he has not remembered it during a few of them, they are not added into the calculation. If a person who has not performed Salat al-Fajr performs the following salats, all the five salats he performed become acceptable as the sun rises the following day. (Se’adet-i Ebediyye)

Question: What does saahib-i tarteeb mean?
ANSWER
Saahib-i tarteeb is a person who does not have any qada salats or whose qada salats do not exceed five. If the total number of his qada salats exceeds five, he is no longer a saahib-i tarteeb. A person who has performed all his qada salats becomes a saahib-i tarteeb again. A saahib-i tarteeb must observe the order when offering the five fard salats and Salat al-Witr. Unless a person performs a fard salat, it is not permissible for him to perform the five salats following it. That is, if the total number of his qada salats equals five or fewer, it is compulsory to perform them before the present time’s salat. A hadith-i sharif says: “If a person who has slept through the time of a salat or has forgotten to perform it remembers it while performing the following salat in jama’at, he must finish the salat together with the imam and then make up the previous salat. Then he must repeat the one that he has performed with the imam.” (Durr-ul-mukhtar)

One does not have to observe the order (tarteeb) under three conditions:
1. If one forgets that one has a qada salat,
2. If the time grows short,
3. If the total number of one’s qada salats exceeds five.

I will give an example for each:
1. Forgetting: Suppose that a person has forgotten to perform Salat az-Zuhr and missed it. If he remembers it after the time for Salat al-Asr has started, his Salat al-Asr will not be valid if he performs it before making up the Salat az-Zuhr. However, if he remembers the fact that he forgot to perform Salat az-Zuhr after performing Salat al-Asr, the Salat al-Asr will be valid because forgetting is an excuse. He, in such a case, must make up Salat az-Zuhr after Salat al-Asr. If a person goes to sleep without performing Salat al-Witr and wakes up while the adhan for Salat al-Fajr is being called, he must make up the Salat al-Witr first. However, if he remembers the fact that he did not offer Salat al-Witr after performing Salat al-Fajr, the Salat al-Fajr will be valid then.

2. If the time grows short: If a person forgets to perform, say, Salat al-Asr and if the remaining time before Salat al-Isha permits the performance of only a four-rak’at salat, he must perform Salat al-Maghrib before making up Salat al-Asr. He must make it up after performing Salat al-Maghrib.

3. If the total number of one’s qada salats exceeds five: If the total number of salats that one missed equals six or exceeds it, one can perform the five daily salats before performing qada salats. For example, if one has omitted salats for a month and then makes repentance and starts performing the five daily salats regularly without offering one’s qada salats first and in the meantime misses a salat, say, Salat az-Zuhr, it will be permissible for one to perform the present time’s salat before making up the Salat az-Zuhr. (Halabi)

Question: Suppose that a saahib-i tarteeb went to bed with the intention of performing Salat al-Witr when he woke up late at night. However, he could not wake up at night, and it was the time for Salat al-Fajr when he woke up. If he performs Salat al-Fajr before making up Salat al-Witr, will Salat al-Fajr be valid? If the time before sunrise grows short and it permits the performance of only a three-rak’at salat, should he make up Salat al-Witr or perform the fard of Salat al-Fajr?
ANSWER
Salat al-Witr is similar to the five daily salats with respect to both its adaa and qada. That is, if a saahib-i tarteeb performs the fard of Salat al-Fajr before performing Salat al-Witr, his Salat al-Fajr will not be valid. However, if he does so because he forgot the fact that he did not perform Salat al-Witr or there is not enough time, only then will it be valid. If the remaining time before sunrise permits the performance of only a three-rak’at salat, he must perform the fard of Salat al-Fajr. He must make up Salat al-Witr 50 minutes after sunrise or within the period of time starting with 50 minutes after sunrise and ends with 20 minutes before the time for Salat az-Zuhr.

Question: It is written in fiqh books that if a saahib-i tarteeb performs the current salat before making up the salat that he missed due to forgetting, his salat will not be valid. It is written that his current salat will not be valid unless he makes up the missed salat. Then will his sunnat and voluntary salats be valid?
ANSWER
The ruling regarding a saahib-i tarteeb and that regarding a non-saahib-i tartib are different. If a saahib-i tarteeb, that is, a person who does not have any salat to make up, misses a salat due to forgetting or any other legitimate excuse and performs the salat of the present time before making up the missed salat, the salat of the present time will not be valid. Pertinent hadith-i sharifs are as follows:
(If a person performs the current salat before making up the salat that he missed due to forgetting, that salat will not be valid.) [Dara Qutni, Qurtubi, Imam-i Suyuti]

(If a person forgets to perform a salat and remembers it while performing a fard salat, let him perform the missed salat after completing the salat he is performing.) [Bayhaqi, Dara Qutni, Ibn Adiy]

(If a person who has forgotten a salat remembers it while performing another salat behind the imam, he must finish the salat together with the imam and then make up the salat he missed. Then he must repeat the one that he has performed with the imam.) [Tabarani, Hatib]

The ruling about qada salats concerns a person who missed a salat because of a valid excuse allowed by Islam. If a person has qada salats that he omitted deliberately, the current salat will be valid even if he performs it before making up his qada salats. However, his sunnat and voluntary salats will not be acceptable. (Risalah Bay’ wa Shira’, Nawadir-ul-fiqhiyya fi madhhab-il-Hanafiyya)

A hadith-i sharif narrated by Hadrat Ali is as follows:
(If a person has a salat to make up, his performing voluntary salat is like [the case of] a pregnant woman who has completed pregnancy. On the day when she is about to deliver the child, she has a miscarriage. This woman can no longer be said to be pregnant. Nor can she be called a mother. So is the case with this person. Unless he makes up his fard salats, Allahu ta’ala will not accept his voluntary salats.) [Futuh-ul-ghayb] (It is written in fiqh books that all sunnat salats fall into the category of voluntary salats.)

Question: If a person does not know for certain whether he is a saahib-i tarteeb or not because he cannot calculate precisely the total number of his qada salats, what should he do?
ANSWER
To be on the safe side, he should consider himself a saahib-i tarteeb. That is, if he misses a fard salat, it is better for him to make up his missed salat first before performing the current salat.

Question: Suppose that a saahib-i tarteeb went to sleep with the intention of offering Salat al-Witr before dawn broke. When he woke up at night, he could not offer it and then forgot about it. He remembered it the next day before offering Salat al-Isha. In this case, does he have to make up Salat al-Fajr, Salat az-Zuhr, Salat al-Asr, and Salat al-Magrib that he performed during that day?
ANSWER
He does not have to make them up because he forgot having missed Salat al-Witr. Forgetting is an excuse. However, if he, though he remembers that he did not offer Salat al-Witr, performs Salat al-Isha before making up Salat al-Witr, his Salat al-Isha will not be valid.