When I reached puberty, I used to pray without doing ghusl, although I knew the ruling, but I was young and I was too lazy to do ghusl. I continued like that for 4 years, then after I grew up I realized what I was doing. Now I am confused about my situation and I always feel regret. Do I have to make up the prayers of 4 years or is repentance sufficient?.


Praise be to Allaah.

Praying
without having purified oneself is a major sin, and is one of the things for
which a sinner will be punished in his grave. Al-Tahhaawi narrated in
Mushkil al-Athaar from ‘Abd-Allaah ibn Mas’ood that the Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “It was ordered that one
of the slaves of Allaah be given one hundred lashes in his grave, but he
kept asking Allaah and pleading until it was made one, and his grave was
filled with fire. When it was lifted from him, he woke up and said: ‘Why did
you whip me?’ They said: ‘You offered a prayer without having purified
yourself, and you passed by one who was being wronged and you did not help
him.’” Classed as hasan by al-Albaani in Saheeh al-Targheeb, 2234. 

Your feeling
regret for that is repentance, but does your repentance also require you to
make up those prayers or not? This is a matter concerning which the scholars
differed. It seems that you do not have to make them up, because prayer is
an act of worship that is connected to a specific time, and if a person
fails to do it at the specified time, then it is not valid, because the
Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Whoever does
an action that is not in accordance with this matter of ours will have it
rejected.” Narrated by al-Bukhaari, 2697; Muslim, 1718. Your praying without
having purified yourself is like your not having prayed at all, because a
prayer offered without being pure is not valid. 

We have
stated in the answer to question no.
13664 that the scholars differed
concerning the ruling on one who does not pray until the time for the prayer
is over, without any excuse – does he have to make it up or not? So what you
have to do is: 

Repent from
this great sin, and resolve not to return to it. And you have to offer a lot
of naafil prayers, for “good deeds erase bad deeds.” 

Shaykh
al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah (may Allaah have mercy on him) said in
al-Ikhtiyaaraat (p. 34): It is not prescribed for the one who
deliberately does not pray to make up the prayers, and they are not valid if
he does them. Rather he should offer a lot of voluntary prayers. This is the
view of a number of the salaf. End quote. 

And Allaah
knows best.