The patient who is unable to indicate with his head in prayer
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The Shaykh:
There is no harm, but it is better, if they are residents, that they shorten the prayer without combining it, as the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did in Makkah. If they combine them, that is permissible. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) combined prayers in Tabuk while he was staying there, which indicates that it is permissible.
The questioner:
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success, what is the stronger position in your view regarding a patient who is unable to indicate bowing and prostration with his head? Is the prayer dropped for him?
The Shaykh:
We have said that the position of the most accurate scholars, such as Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah and the hadith scholars, is that he owes no prayer. This is because the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) stopped at indicating with the head and did not mention indicating with the eye. A report was narrated by al-Sajji that he indicates with his eye, but the hadith is not authentic. The authentic hadith stops at indicating with the head. However, if he prays, as I mentioned, out of caution and to avoid the disagreement, there is no harm. Yes.
There is no harm, but it is better, if they are residents, that they shorten the prayer without combining it, as the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did in Makkah. If they combine them, that is permissible. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) combined prayers in Tabuk while he was staying there, which indicates that it is permissible.
The questioner:
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success, what is the stronger position in your view regarding a patient who is unable to indicate bowing and prostration with his head? Is the prayer dropped for him?
The Shaykh:
We have said that the position of the most accurate scholars, such as Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah and the hadith scholars, is that he owes no prayer. This is because the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) stopped at indicating with the head and did not mention indicating with the eye. A report was narrated by al-Sajji that he indicates with his eye, but the hadith is not authentic. The authentic hadith stops at indicating with the head. However, if he prays, as I mentioned, out of caution and to avoid the disagreement, there is no harm. Yes.
Source
الفوزان -أشرطة- شرح زاد المستقنع مع الأسئلة - 023-كتاب الصلاة -14- صلاة أهل الأعذار - 21-10-21 هـ — archive.org (1:11:20)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.