What is the meaning of this hadith: (Whatever I have commanded you, do as much of it as you are able to...)? What is the criterion for ability?

The questioner : He saysThe questioner : Here, in the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Praise be to Allah, and peace be upon the Messenger of Allah. As for what follows, Allah has enabled us to hear some of the tapes, and we love you for the sake of Allah. After that, we would like to comment on the hadith of Abu Hurayrah, agreed upon by al-Bukhari and Muslim: What is the criterion for ability? Does it not contradict the hadiths indicating the obligation of following the command of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him)? What is the ruling on working after that? He says, what is the ruling on working in the lands of disbelievers to bring in money? And he says after that, the Sufis.

The Shaykh : No, no, wait. We will answer every question.

The questioner : He is doing well.

The Shaykh : What is the first question?

The questioner : He says, the discussion is about the hadith:

The Shaykh : Okay, stop there.

The questioner : Yes.

The Shaykh : The things prohibited are negative matters, whereas the things the Messenger (peace be upon him) commanded are positive, practical matters. That is, if the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) commands you to pray, that is a command to do something that you should rise to and perform. But if he forbids you from stealing, then stealing is far from you, so you must engage in an action to fall into this prohibition. You must be completely away from it because it requires an action. It exempts you from committing zina, stealing, or doing such things all of it, because it does not require an action; it is a negative command. Unlike the commands This is a clear command in the case of his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): Here is a command to do an action, namely prayer. But prayer has pillars, one of which is that you pray standing, and this, as is known, is in the obligatory prayer. But this command to this action, namely standing, is within the limits of a person's capacity. Therefore, he told you: Pray standing, and if you cannot, then pray sitting. No, there is a stage between standing and lying down So the positive, practical matters are those that fall within the scope of the saying of the Exalted: As for the negative, prohibited matters, they are absolute, because the one who wants to violate them must perform an action. Allah (Mighty and Majestic) has forbidden you from this action. So these prohibitions are all included in the generality of the obligation; nothing is excluded from them, because if you wanted to exclude something, that would mean you want to act, and you have been forbidden from acting. Whereas the one who is commanded to do an action is related to his ability, as in the previous hadith and as in the noble verse: As for defining ability, this cannot be defined for a reason: our Lord (Mighty and Majestic) has not restricted it, and because it involves imposing what is unbearable. There are types of ability by the dozens, by the hundreds, by the thousands; it is not possible to discuss them in detail. Rather, the matter returns to the person afflicted; he is the one who can determine whether he is able to pray standing or not. The doctor himself cannot tell him, "You are able to pray" or "You are not able to pray." Therefore, ability has been entrusted by the Shari'ah to the one obligated; there is no definition in the matter at all. As for the question after that.