As a doctor, I often have to attend cases of childbirth when it is sometimes very difficult to avoid some drops of the fluid discharged by the patient falling on my clothes. When it is prayer time, can I still offer my prayers wearing the same clothes, since I cannot go home to change?
I would have thought that a doctor attend childbirth normally wears a hospital gown over own clothes. As such it is on that special gown that such drops fall. Therefore, it is sufficient for you to take the gown off and offer prayers in your ordinary clothes. It may be that occasionally a drop of two may fall on the lower part of your trousers which is not covered by the gown. Since this is unavoidable, then my advice to you is to keep a clean pair of trousers in your office or in your personal locker in the doctors' room.
If it is easy at the time of prayer to change trousers, then you would offer your prayers in the clean pair. If that is impractical in your special circumstances in the hospital, then it is hoped that Allah will accept your prayer as valid if you offer your prayers on time in your working clothes, apart from the top gown.
Could you please clarify if there is a prayer called "Qazai Umri"? In India, this is strongly recommended by people after obligatory prayers. It is a collection of the obligatory prayers of one whole day. People claim that this makes up for the prayers which one may have not offered in the past years.
Allah defines prayer in the Qur'an as "a time-related duty incumbent on believers." The phrase "time-related" is highly significant. As you are well aware, each obligatory prayer has a time range during which it must be offered. Dawn, or Fajr prayer, for example must be offered after the break of dawn but before sunrise. This means that we have approximately one and a half hours when we must offer Fajr prayer. When the sun has risen, the time for this particular duty has lapsed and this prayer cannot be offered. There are two reasons which justify offering Fajr prayer after the sun has risen, namely, oversleeping (and this includes loss of consciousness), or forgetfulness. The Prophet says: "Anyone who sleeps through a particular prayer or forgets it should offer it as soon as he is conscious of it. This is the time when it falls due (in his particular case)".
This applies to every obligatory prayer. Thus, for Dhuhr, we have the time range extending from noon until roughly half the time span between noon and sunset. Asr may be offered at any moment after the Dhuhr time has lapsed and before sunset. Maghrib has a time range of roughly one and a half hours starting at sunset. Isha follows immediately after Maghrib time is over and its time range extends until two thirds of the night have gone (according to most scholars).
Once the time range for any particular prayer is gone it cannot be offered. There are certain cases, when two prayers i.e. Dhuhr and Asr or Maghrib and Isha, may be offered at the same time, such as during travel. Apart from that every prayer must be offered within its time range.
If one neglects offering a prayer on time, then he cannot compensate for it by offering it later. A person who had neglected praying for a period of his life need not start offering his missed prayers with the ones he offered now. What he should do, however, is to repent sincerely and pray for Allah's forgiveness. If he mends his ways and attends regularly to his prayers, Allah is certain to forgive him. Another action which may help him attain Allah's forgiveness is to offer as many voluntary prayers as possible.
This method of compensating for prayers missed during a whole year which you call "Qazai Umri" is certainly not recommended. One cannot redress his past negligence in this way. The only way Allah accepts is sincere repentance and a resolve not to miss a single prayer in future.
• Prayers: Short prayers or long ones
Some people offer their prayers short, reciting only a short surah or a small number of Qur'anic verses, so that they can offer more rak’ahs in voluntary prayers. Others prefer to read longer passages of the Qur'an and they offer less in voluntary prayers, but perhaps spend the same time or even longer. Which method is preferable? Similarly, a person like myself whose mother tongue is not Arabic can say the glorification of Allah less times than an Arab doing one's prostration. Does a person who says more glorification earn more reward, although we may be in the same congregational prayer?
Scholars have expressed two different views with regard to the best situation a human being may be in: prostration during prayer, or standing up and reciting the Qur'an in prayer. In prostration, one expresses with the clearest possible gesture one's submission to Allah and recognition of His greatness. At the same time, he is glorifying Him as his Lord, the Most Supreme. On the other hand, when you stand up on prayer, reciting the Qur'an, you are in worship, reciting Allah's own words. When we try to compare both situations, the comparison is difficult to evaluate. Whichever one you choose is equally valid. My own personal preference is for a longer recitation of the Qur'an in the standing up position.
Perhaps one should not dwell over much on these details. If you are engaged in worship, then Allah will reward you according to your concentration and the time you spend in prayer. There is little to choose between a person who spends half an hour offering voluntary prayers, and doing only two rak'ahs and another who does ten rak'ahs over the same period. When the choice is obvious in Ramadhan when people offer taraweeh prayer, with some of them offering 8 rak'ahs over a period of , say, 30 minutes, while others offer 20 rak’ahs over a period of 20 minutes. The latter can hardly concentrate on their prayer, as they make it so short. They have hardly any time to glorify Allah during their prostration when they rise up again. This is a hasty prayer which runs against the recommendations of the Prophet.
When you glorify Allah 3 or 4 times, because of the difficulty in pronunciation you may have as a non-Arabic speaking person, you are rewarded for your effort, and your reward may not be at all less than a person who says such a glorification 10 times over the same period. Allah knows the intention of everyone and He judges actions by intentions. This is clearly stated by the Prophet who says; "Actions are but by intentions. Every man shall have but that which he has intended."