The Ruling on the Sitting for Rest in Prayer
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Your Eminence, is the sitting for rest a permanent recommended practice, or is it prescribed for the elderly or for necessity?The Shaykh: And what is the sitting?The questioner: That one sits before standing up for the second rak'ah, and that one sits before standing up for the fourth rak'ah. The Shaykh: In the prayer?The questioner: Yes, the sitting for rest in the prayer.
The Shaykh: The correct view is that there is a distinction: whoever needs it should sit, following the Sunnah and to rest the body, and whoever does not need it should not sit. This is the distinction by which the evidence agrees.
Then, if the ma'mum is behind an imam who does not consider the sitting, the ma'mum should not sit, because in his sitting he would be contradicting the imam by sitting in the place where the imam is standing. And if he is with an imam who considers the sitting and the ma'mum does not consider it, let him sit following his imam, for the ma'mum is a follower. If his imam sits, he sits, and if his imam does not sit, he does not sit in any case.
The questioner: And if he is in need, such as due to illness?The Shaykh: There is no harm in him sitting, for this is for a need.
The questioner: Even if the imam does not sit?The Shaykh: This is a need,But as I said: but it is better not to differ except out of dire necessity.
The Shaykh: The correct view is that there is a distinction: whoever needs it should sit, following the Sunnah and to rest the body, and whoever does not need it should not sit. This is the distinction by which the evidence agrees.
Then, if the ma'mum is behind an imam who does not consider the sitting, the ma'mum should not sit, because in his sitting he would be contradicting the imam by sitting in the place where the imam is standing. And if he is with an imam who considers the sitting and the ma'mum does not consider it, let him sit following his imam, for the ma'mum is a follower. If his imam sits, he sits, and if his imam does not sit, he does not sit in any case.
The questioner: And if he is in need, such as due to illness?The Shaykh: There is no harm in him sitting, for this is for a need.
The questioner: Even if the imam does not sit?The Shaykh: This is a need,But as I said: but it is better not to differ except out of dire necessity.