Short answer
It depends on whether your reason is intact. Depression, anxiety, OCD and similar conditions do not remove the duty of salah, though every ease for the sick applies. Prayer is lifted only while the mind is gone, as in severe psychosis or advanced dementia. In the Hanafi school, if that lasts longer than five prayers, the missed prayers need not be made up.
Salah is fard only on a sane adult. A person who loses their reason (junun) or consciousness for more than five prayer times does not make up those prayers; for five or fewer, they are made up. Conditions that leave the mind intact keep the obligation, with every ease the Shariah gives the sick.
Other madhhabs
- Shafi'i
- No make-up is due for prayers missed during insanity or unconsciousness of any length, unless it was caused by something the person chose, such as intoxication.
- Hanbali
- No make-up is due for insanity, but prayers missed while unconscious must be made up, however long it lasted.
- Maliki
- No make-up is due for insanity or unconsciousness that covered the whole time of the prayer.
Explanation
The Prophet ﷺ said that the pen is lifted from three: the sleeper until he wakes, the child until he reaches puberty, and the insane until he regains his reason. Religious duties depend on the mind. So the question is not whether you have a diagnosis, but whether your reason is present.
Mind intact. With depression, anxiety, OCD, PTSD and most conditions, you still understand what prayer is, so it remains fard. But the ease for the sick applies: pray sitting if standing is too hard, keep to the fard prayers on hard days, and do not punish yourself for a lack of focus. With OCD and waswasa, do not repeat your wudu or prayer because of doubts; a scholar who understands OCD can give you clear rules to follow.
Mind absent. During a psychotic episode, a manic episode in which the person loses touch with reality, or advanced dementia, the duty is lifted. When reason returns, the Hanafi rule applies: if the episode lasted longer than five prayer times, those prayers are not made up; if it was five or fewer, they are. Families should not force a person with advanced dementia to pray.
Medication. If a medicine makes you sleep through a prayer, make it up as anyone who oversleeps does. If it causes a loss of consciousness lasting more than five prayers, the rule above applies.
For keeping track of make-up prayers, see the qada calculator, and for the basic method, how to pray. Because cases differ so much, ask a mufti about your own.
Ask a mufti about your own case. This answer explains the general ruling. When the details of your situation matter, as they do here, ask a qualified mufti and give them the full facts. Where to ask a scholar.
The evidence
Quran, Surah Al-Baqara 2:286
لَا يُكَلِّفُ ٱللَّهُ نَفْسًا إِلَّا وُسْعَهَا ۚ لَهَا مَا كَسَبَتْ وَعَلَيْهَا مَا ٱكْتَسَبَتْ ۗ رَبَّنَا لَا تُؤَاخِذْنَآ إِن نَّسِينَآ أَوْ أَخْطَأْنَا ۚ رَبَّنَا وَلَا تَحْمِلْ عَلَيْنَآ إِصْرًۭا كَمَا حَمَلْتَهُۥ عَلَى ٱلَّذِينَ مِن قَبْلِنَا ۚ رَبَّنَا وَلَا تُحَمِّلْنَا مَا لَا طَاقَةَ لَنَا بِهِۦ ۖ وَٱعْفُ عَنَّا وَٱغْفِرْ لَنَا وَٱرْحَمْنَآ ۚ أَنتَ مَوْلَىٰنَا فَٱنصُرْنَا عَلَى ٱلْقَوْمِ ٱلْكَٰفِرِينَ ﴿٢٨٦﴾
Allah does not charge a soul except [with that within] its capacity. It will have [the consequence of] what [good] it has gained, and it will bear [the consequence of] what [evil] it has earned. "Our Lord, do not impose blame upon us if we have forgotten or erred. Our Lord, and lay not upon us a burden like that which You laid upon those before us. Our Lord, and burden us not with that which we have no ability to bear. And pardon us; and forgive us; and have mercy upon us. You are our protector, so give us victory over the disbelieving people."
Duties follow capacity, including the capacity of the mind.
Quran, Surah At-Taghaabun 64:16
فَٱتَّقُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ مَا ٱسْتَطَعْتُمْ وَٱسْمَعُوا۟ وَأَطِيعُوا۟ وَأَنفِقُوا۟ خَيْرًۭا لِّأَنفُسِكُمْ ۗ وَمَن يُوقَ شُحَّ نَفْسِهِۦ فَأُو۟لَٰٓئِكَ هُمُ ٱلْمُفْلِحُونَ ﴿١٦﴾
So fear Allah as much as you are able and listen and obey and spend [in the way of Allah]; it is better for your selves. And whoever is protected from the stinginess of his soul - it is those who will be the successful.
A person prays as they are able, with the ease given to the sick.
Sunan Abi Dawud 4403
Graded sahih... وعن الصبي حتى يحتلم وعن المجنون حتى يعقل ...
"The pen is lifted from three: the sleeper until he wakes, the child until he reaches puberty, and the insane until he regains his reason."
Religious duties are lifted while reason is absent.
Sahih al-Bukhari 1117
Sahih... صل قائما فإن لم تستطع فقاعدا فإن لم تستطع فعلى جنب ...
"Pray standing; if you cannot, then sitting; and if you cannot, then lying on your side."
Prayer is adjusted to what the sick person can do.
Where the ruling is recorded
- al-Hidaya, Kitab al-Salah, Bab Salat al-Marid. Whoever is unconscious for five prayers or fewer makes them up; for more than that, he does not.
- Radd al-Muhtar (Ibn Abidin), Kitab al-Salah, Bab Salat al-Marid. Insanity takes the same ruling as unconsciousness in this.
- al-Majmu (al-Nawawi), Kitab al-Salah, on who must pray. The Shafi'i view that the insane and unconscious make up nothing.
This answer is pending review by the scholars on our team. Quran translation by Sahih International. Hadith Arabic from the standard editions of the six books and the Muwatta, with gradings as recorded there; the English is our own rendering. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.