Is the four-rak’ah prayer performed on the last Friday of Ramadan equivalent to 400 years of missed (qada) prayers?

- This information is circulating everywhere on the internet; is this information true?

- The Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, is said to have stated this: "If anyone from my Ummah has missed (qada) prayers to make up, and performs a four-rak2ah prayer between the Friday prayer and the afternoon prayer (asr) on the last Friday of Ramadan, he will be regarded to have performed the equivalent of 400 years of missed prayers."

- A person does not live for 400 years and he cannot have so many missed prayers; therefore, the remaining prayers of that person will be transferred to his children after his death.

- This prayer is performed as four rak’ahs. In each rak’ah, Ayatul-Kursiyy is read 10 times, al-Kawthar (Inna a’tayna) is read 15 times, al-Kafirun is read 3 times, and al-Ikhlas is read 3 times. The intention is made as follows: I intend to perform atonement (kaffarah) prayer for the prayers that I missed and skipped for the forgiveness of my sins.

- It is performed after the Friday prayer and before the afternoon prayer (asr). It is performed like the sunnah of asr prayer. The only difference is that after reading al-Fatiha in the standing position of each rak’ah, Ayatul-Kursiyy is read 10 times, al-Kawthar is read 15 times, al-Kafirun is read 3 times, and al-Ikhlas is read 3 times. The rest is the same.

- The glorifications are: 70 times "astaghfirullah al-azim wa atubu ilayh" (I seek forgiveness from Allah, the Mighty, and I repent to Him) and 70 times "Allahumma salli ala Muhammad" (O Allah, send blessings upon Muhammad).

Dear Brother / Sister,

- This information does not exist in any reliable - sound or weak- hadith source.

- The source of those who put forward this on the internet is a person named Muhammad Salih al-Bahrani, a contemporary Shiite writer born in 1918, and his work "an-Namariqul-Fakhira ila Taraiqil-Akhira". He introduced this narration without any chain of narrators, without any basis, and without any credibility.

- Therefore, it has no validity whatsoever. It is entirely fabricated and contrary to the general principles of Islam and the etiquette of prayer.

In fact, even Shiites, in general, do not believe that such information is correct...

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