The Ruling on the Sitting for Rest
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
Shaykh Salih, what is the ruling on the sitting for rest before standing for the second rak'ah?
Answer:
There is scholarly disagreement regarding the sitting for rest. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did not do it except when the prayer became heavy for him (peace and blessings be upon him). But did he do it as a legislative act, or did he do it out of necessity? Because he (peace and blessings be upon him) was feeling the weight of age in the last part of his life, the scholars differ on this. Whoever holds that he did it out of necessity says it is not a recommended practice (sunnah), but rather it is done by whoever needs it. As for whoever holds that it is a legislative act, he says the sitting for rest is prescribed and recommended. Yes.
Shaykh Salih, what is the ruling on the sitting for rest before standing for the second rak'ah?
Answer:
There is scholarly disagreement regarding the sitting for rest. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did not do it except when the prayer became heavy for him (peace and blessings be upon him). But did he do it as a legislative act, or did he do it out of necessity? Because he (peace and blessings be upon him) was feeling the weight of age in the last part of his life, the scholars differ on this. Whoever holds that he did it out of necessity says it is not a recommended practice (sunnah), but rather it is done by whoever needs it. As for whoever holds that it is a legislative act, he says the sitting for rest is prescribed and recommended. Yes.
Source
قناة «السعودية»، برنامج فتاوى — youtube.com (39:38)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.