Breaking Fard Salah
السَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحْمَةُ ٱللَّهِ وَبَرَكاتُهُ
I recently started praying, Alhamdulillah, and I have a question.
I am pray in secret from my family members, because I am afraid that if they find out, I will stop praying, or end up praying for show-off (as this has already happened to me many times before)
My question is, sometimes when I hear my family members coming, I panic and end up breaking a Fard salah, or any other salah that I am praying at the time, because I am also worried that if my family members find out that I pray, I will end up missing prayers. However after breaking that salah, I re-pray that salah that I broke, and do repentance, and also sometimes I offer Salat ul Tawba.
Is it okay for me to do that, or is it not permissible?
I try my best to pray in a place where there is no one, but sometimes it happens that I am afraid.
Answer
Wa’alaykum as-Salām waraḥmatullāhi wa barakātuhu,
It is impermissible to break your prayers. The sin of breaking prayers is more than the sin of praying with the intention of showing off. Sometimes, ‘embarrassment’ is also misinterpreted as ‘showing off’. The solution for incorrect intentions is to continue with the good actions. Therefore, pray, and if they see you praying, they might also get motivated to pray. There is no need to break the prayer.