The Ruling on Tayammum, Combining Prayers, and Shortening Prayers for the Sick Person
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner:
The questioner asks, Shaykh, about the ruling on combining and shortening prayers for a sick person, and whether he may pray using tayammum if he is unable to use water?
The Shaykh:
Yes, the sick person performs wudu with water if that is possible. If he is unable to perform wudu with water, he performs tayammum[An-Nisa 4:43] until the words of Allah the Exalted: “And you do not find water, then perform tayammum with clean earth” [An-Nisa 4:43]. Tayammum replaces wudu with water when water is absent or when one is unable to use it due to illness or the like. This is regarding tayammum for prayer for the sick person. The question remains
The presenter:
Yes, regarding combining and shortening, it is permissible for him.
The Shaykh:
Likewise, it is permissible if the sick person needs to combine the Dhuhr and Asr prayers, or the Maghrib and Isha prayers, in the time of one of them; there is no harm in that. As for shortening, it is not permissible except for the specific cause. Shortening is not permissible. Therefore, the permissibility of combining does not imply the permissibility of shortening. On the contrary, the permissibility of shortening implies the permissibility of combining, but the permissibility of combining does not imply the permissibility of shortening. Yes.
The questioner asks, Shaykh, about the ruling on combining and shortening prayers for a sick person, and whether he may pray using tayammum if he is unable to use water?
The Shaykh:
Yes, the sick person performs wudu with water if that is possible. If he is unable to perform wudu with water, he performs tayammum
And if you are ill or on a journey
وَإِن كُنتُم مَّرْضَىٰ أَوْ عَلَىٰ سَفَرٍand find no water, then seek clean earth
فَلَمْ تَجِدُوا مَاءً فَتَيَمَّمُوا صَعِيدًا طَيِّبًاThe presenter:
Yes, regarding combining and shortening, it is permissible for him.
The Shaykh:
Likewise, it is permissible if the sick person needs to combine the Dhuhr and Asr prayers, or the Maghrib and Isha prayers, in the time of one of them; there is no harm in that. As for shortening, it is not permissible except for the specific cause. Shortening is not permissible. Therefore, the permissibility of combining does not imply the permissibility of shortening. On the contrary, the permissibility of shortening implies the permissibility of combining, but the permissibility of combining does not imply the permissibility of shortening. Yes.
Source
نور على الدرب - الفوزان - 03/179 — archive.org (17:31)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.