The Ruling on the Resting Sitting in Prayer
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner:
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success. This questioner says: What is the ruling on the sitting of rest in the prayer? Is it a recommended practice (sunnah)?
The Shaykh:
There is scholarly disagreement on this, and if there is a need for it, it is permissible. Yes.
The questioner:
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success. This questioner says: What is the best...
The Shaykh:
Most of them hold that it is a recommended practice (sunnah). It is said that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did it because he had grown old and did it to rest, as he had aged and the prayer became heavy for him (peace and blessings be upon him), so he did it for rest. It is also said that he did it to legislate it, in which case it would be recommended, meaning both possibilities are likely. Yes.
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success. This questioner says: What is the ruling on the sitting of rest in the prayer? Is it a recommended practice (sunnah)?
The Shaykh:
There is scholarly disagreement on this, and if there is a need for it, it is permissible. Yes.
The questioner:
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success. This questioner says: What is the best...
The Shaykh:
Most of them hold that it is a recommended practice (sunnah). It is said that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did it because he had grown old and did it to rest, as he had aged and the prayer became heavy for him (peace and blessings be upon him), so he did it for rest. It is also said that he did it to legislate it, in which case it would be recommended, meaning both possibilities are likely. Yes.
Source
شرح إغاثة اللهفان من مصائد الشيطان لابن القيم، فصل ثم جرى الأمر على السداد والاستقامة والأمة واحدة والدين واحد والمعبود واحد — islamhouse.com (1:18:23)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.