Short answer
No. Work, school and exams are not excuses to let a prayer's time pass. Each prayer takes a few minutes and has a time window, so plan for it: a lunch or short break, a quiet room, or the start or end of the window. If one is missed anyway, make it up as soon as you can and repent.
Delaying a fard prayer until its time ends because of work is not allowed and is sinful, and the missed prayer must be made up. The Hanafi school does not allow combining prayers for work, though you may pray Dhuhr late in its time and Asr early in its time, back to back.
Other madhhabs
- Hanbali
- Combining two prayers in one time is allowed for illness, and later Hanbali texts also allow it for an excuse or occupation that would excuse a person from Jumuah and the congregation.
Explanation
Allah praises believers whom "neither commerce nor sale distracts from the remembrance of Allah and performance of prayer". A fard prayer takes five to ten minutes. The prayer windows are long: in the Hanafi school Dhuhr runs from just after midday until the Asr time, and Asr until sunset. Most jobs and school days have a break somewhere in those windows.
- Know your windows: check the day's times and pick a slot in advance.
- Ask: many employers and schools will give a few minutes and a quiet room if you ask politely. Many schools and campuses have prayer rooms.
- Any clean spot works: an empty office, a stairwell, a parked car. See can you pray anywhere.
- Back to back: Dhuhr at the end of its time and Asr at the start of its time can be prayed in one break.
- Can't stand: if a job or injury truly prevents it, the rules for praying on a chair apply.
Real emergencies do happen, such as a surgeon mid-operation or a student locked in an exam hall past the time. Pray the moment you can; if the time has passed, it is a qada and you make it up straight away. What is not acceptable is making work a routine reason to skip prayers.
For combining, see can you combine prayers. For Friday, see missing Jummah because of work. Track your prayers with the salah tracker.
The evidence
Quran, Surah An-Noor 24:37
رِجَالٌۭ لَّا تُلْهِيهِمْ تِجَٰرَةٌۭ وَلَا بَيْعٌ عَن ذِكْرِ ٱللَّهِ وَإِقَامِ ٱلصَّلَوٰةِ وَإِيتَآءِ ٱلزَّكَوٰةِ ۙ يَخَافُونَ يَوْمًۭا تَتَقَلَّبُ فِيهِ ٱلْقُلُوبُ وَٱلْأَبْصَٰرُ ﴿٣٧﴾
[Are] men whom neither commerce nor sale distracts from the remembrance of Allah and performance of prayer and giving of zakah. They fear a Day in which the hearts and eyes will [fearfully] turn about -
Work must not push prayer out of its time.
Sahih al-Bukhari 527
Sahih... الصلاة على وقتها ...
"The prayer at its proper time."
Praying on time is among the deeds Allah loves most.
Sahih Muslim 684
Sahih... من نسي صلاة فليصلها إذا ذكرها ...
"Whoever forgets a prayer should pray it when he remembers it."
A missed prayer must still be made up.
Where the ruling is recorded
- al-Hidaya, Kitab al-Salah, chapter on prayer times. Two prayers are not combined in one time except at Arafah and Muzdalifah.
- al-Durr al-Mukhtar with Radd al-Muhtar, Opening of Kitab al-Salah and the chapter on make-up prayers. Delaying a prayer beyond its time without an excuse is a major sin, and it must be made up.
- Kashshaf al-Qina', Chapter on combining prayers. Lists the hardships for which the Hanbali school allows combining.
Checked by our team. For a more accurate answer to your own situation, consult a scholar. 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.