The imam praying while sitting due to his illness, or appointing someone else in his place
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner:
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success. He says: Is it better for the imam to pray while sitting because of his illness, or should he appoint someone to take his place?
The Shaykh:
Is it better?
The questioner:
For the imam to pray while sitting because of his illness, or to appoint someone to take his place?
The Shaykh:
Both are permissible, and the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did both: appointing someone and praying while sitting with his companions. This applies to the regular imam, the imam of the mosque, provided his illness is expected to end. What if he has a chronic illness that is not expected to end, and he cannot pray standing? In that case, he does not serve as imam, and he does not continue in the role of imam. There are two conditions: that he is the regular imam of the neighborhood, and that his illness is expected to end.
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success. He says: Is it better for the imam to pray while sitting because of his illness, or should he appoint someone to take his place?
The Shaykh:
Is it better?
The questioner:
For the imam to pray while sitting because of his illness, or to appoint someone to take his place?
The Shaykh:
Both are permissible, and the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did both: appointing someone and praying while sitting with his companions. This applies to the regular imam, the imam of the mosque, provided his illness is expected to end. What if he has a chronic illness that is not expected to end, and he cannot pray standing? In that case, he does not serve as imam, and he does not continue in the role of imam. There are two conditions: that he is the regular imam of the neighborhood, and that his illness is expected to end.
Source
المنتقى من أخبار سيد المرسلين 13-04-1434هـ — alfawzan.live (40:37)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.