regarding the ruling on sitting in the crouching position?

The questioner : You are leaning toward the view that for a person who drinks in this position, if he drinks in this... you say that this is not... meaning, drinking is not permissible... because it is not considered sitting.

The Shaykh: Yes.

The questioner : In fact, one of our brothers, our brother "AliAl-Halabi : " reminded us regarding this position, which is briefly, he said: It is a type of sitting.

The Shaykh: Yes.

The questioner : So what is the response to this statement?

The Shaykh : It is the same, the same statement, but we found another opinion.

The questioner: Yes.

The Shaykh : As for this crouching position, you do not say: So-and-so sat, when you see him crouching, you do not say: he sat, do you understand me?

The questioner : Yes, yes, my Shaykh.

The Shaykh : But what do you say? He sat in the crouching position.

The questioner : Yes, he sat in the crouching position.

The Shaykh : Good, so it is a restricted position, but the way out is to say that the hadith did not command drinking while sitting, but rather it prohibited drinking while standing; did you understand?

The questioner: Yes.

The Shaykh : This observation is what opens up the issue for us, whereas the crouching position is a restricted position.

The questioner: Yes.

The Shaykh : And I do not want... it does not resolve the problem for us if there were a command to drink while sitting; because when sitting is used in a general sense, it refers to the complete sitting that comes to mind. What does it mean when you say So-and-so sat? He sat down. What does it mean, crouching? No; the ordinary sitting, yes. But all this talk, we have clarified that we have no need for it; because we do not have a command to drink while sitting...