How is the prayer of one who is unable to bow or prostrate, and does he sit?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The student : There are two questions. May Allah reward you with good.
The Shaykh : All right, please go ahead. There is no god but Allah.
The student : ... and he cannot prostrate. So does he pray standing on the chair, and then prostrate on the chair...?
The Shaykh : No, as long as he is able to stand, he prays standing, and then he bows and prostrates by nodding his head, making his prostration lower than his bowing.
The student : So there is no act of prostrating on the chair?
The Shaykh : What is the benefit of prostrating on the chair? What does he gain from sitting? He has not achieved standing, nor bowing, nor prostration. But nodding in bowing and prostration is a matter established in the Sunnah. As for dropping the standing, there is absolutely no basis for it. This is based on the principle, "Fear Allah as much as you are able." So if he is able to stand, he does not sit. If he is able to bow, he bows. If he is not able to prostrate, he does not prostrate. But he distinguishes between the bowing and the prostration by making one lower than the other.The student : So in this case, does he nod while bowing, or does he stand up to complete the bowing, then rise standing and nod his head?
The Shaykh : Of course, he must do it. He must raise his head from the bowing. But when he wants to prostrate and he is unable to prostrate, he needs to make his prostration, while not actually prostrating—meaning his forehead is not clearly on the ground because he is unable to do so as in the standard form—so he makes a lowering. Let us call it a lowering in the bowing that is the prostration. You may notice that many of the worshippers do not know how to bow; you find—and is there blame for this?—their buttocks rise above their heads. Do you understand? And the Sunnah, as you know, is for his head to be level with his back, exactly even. So this person who is unable to prostrate should prostrate by making his prostration lower than the lawful bowing. That is all.
The student : In the form of bowing, meaning?
The Shaykh : In the form of bowing, because there is no option other than this.
The student : Our Shaykh, may Allah bless you for the question, because it is on the minds of many people...
The Shaykh : Excuse me, something came to my mind related to your previous question. Allow me a remark. Something just came to my mind: is he able to sit?
The student: No.
The Shaykh : He is also unable to sit, yes. I wanted to say that as for the one who is able to sit but not able to prostrate, he sits and leans forward. Do you understand? That is what I wanted to say. Please, Abu Malik.
The Shaykh : All right, please go ahead. There is no god but Allah.
The student : ... and he cannot prostrate. So does he pray standing on the chair, and then prostrate on the chair...?
The Shaykh : No, as long as he is able to stand, he prays standing, and then he bows and prostrates by nodding his head, making his prostration lower than his bowing.
The student : So there is no act of prostrating on the chair?
The Shaykh : What is the benefit of prostrating on the chair? What does he gain from sitting? He has not achieved standing, nor bowing, nor prostration. But nodding in bowing and prostration is a matter established in the Sunnah. As for dropping the standing, there is absolutely no basis for it. This is based on the principle, "Fear Allah as much as you are able." So if he is able to stand, he does not sit. If he is able to bow, he bows. If he is not able to prostrate, he does not prostrate. But he distinguishes between the bowing and the prostration by making one lower than the other.The student : So in this case, does he nod while bowing, or does he stand up to complete the bowing, then rise standing and nod his head?
The Shaykh : Of course, he must do it. He must raise his head from the bowing. But when he wants to prostrate and he is unable to prostrate, he needs to make his prostration, while not actually prostrating—meaning his forehead is not clearly on the ground because he is unable to do so as in the standard form—so he makes a lowering. Let us call it a lowering in the bowing that is the prostration. You may notice that many of the worshippers do not know how to bow; you find—and is there blame for this?—their buttocks rise above their heads. Do you understand? And the Sunnah, as you know, is for his head to be level with his back, exactly even. So this person who is unable to prostrate should prostrate by making his prostration lower than the lawful bowing. That is all.
The student : In the form of bowing, meaning?
The Shaykh : In the form of bowing, because there is no option other than this.
The student : Our Shaykh, may Allah bless you for the question, because it is on the minds of many people...
The Shaykh : Excuse me, something came to my mind related to your previous question. Allow me a remark. Something just came to my mind: is he able to sit?
The student: No.
The Shaykh : He is also unable to sit, yes. I wanted to say that as for the one who is able to sit but not able to prostrate, he sits and leans forward. Do you understand? That is what I wanted to say. Please, Abu Malik.
Source
www.al-albany.com
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.