A man who left off prayer due to his illness out of ignorance: how is the making up of the missed prayers to be done?
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The questioner : In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
His EminenceThe Shaykh : A person entered the hospital and stayed there for a period without praying, thinking that if he was unable to perform the physical actions, he could perform the prayer after leaving the hospital when he was able to perform the verbal parts. So, for example, after ten or fifteen days, how is the making up of the missed prayers to be done? Is it obligatory for him to make them up consecutively, or is it permissible for him to make up each prayer with its corresponding time?
The Shaykh : First: May Allah reward you. The sick person who is unable to move by standing, sitting, bowing, or prostrating must pray, even if only with his eyes, as the jurists said. Some scholars do not establish prayer with the eyes due to the weakness of the hadith reported on this matter. As for praying with the finger, as the common people do, this has no basis. Some of the common people say that if you cannot bow, prostrate, or indicate, you do it with the finger: when standing, keep it standing like this; when bowing, bend it slightly; when prostrating, bend it more. This is not valid. We have not seen it in the Book, nor in the Sunnah, nor in the words of the scholars. But we say: if you are unable to move, intend with your heart. The tongue is usually not incapacitated, but if it is also incapacitated, intend with the heart the takbir, the recitation, the bowing, the prostrating, the standing, and the sitting. So, if we assume that some people did not pray thinking that if they were unable to move, they would postpone the prayer until they recovered, or thinking that their clothes were dirty with impurity and saying, "If Allah heals me, I will wear clean, pure clothes and then pray."
The questioner : What if he is unconscious?
The Shaykh : No, the unconscious person is not included. We say that the sin is dropped from him based on his interpretation, even though in reality he is considered negligent, because it is obligatory to ask the people of knowledge. However, the obligation to make up the missed prayers is not dropped from him; he must make them up in order, all at once, without waiting for each prayer to be made up with its time. So, if we assume that he left off ten days' worth of prayers and he is able to pray them in one day, let him do so, because making up the missed prayers is obligatory immediately, meaning one must hasten to do it. As for what is common among the people that one makes up the midday prayer with the midday prayer and the afternoon prayer with the afternoon prayer until they are finished, that is an error. However, if he was unconscious, whether due to the severity of his illness or an accident that befell him, there is no making up of prayers for him; rather, the prayer is dropped from him because he is unable to wake up, unlike the sleeper. Indeed, whoever sleeps through a prayer or forgets it, let him pray it when he remembers it.
The questioner : And what about the one under anesthesia?
The Shaykh : No, as for the one under anesthesia, you see that from our standpoint, I do not accept but one question, O Shaykh. The one under anesthesia makes up the missed prayers because his unconsciousness or loss of mind was by his own choice. Yes.
The questioner : Your Eminence, what is the reported supplication?
The Shaykh : On the right.
The questioner : In the name of Allah, and all praise is for Allah, and may the prayer and peace be upon the Messenger of Allah.
The Shaykh : You are excused...
His EminenceThe Shaykh : A person entered the hospital and stayed there for a period without praying, thinking that if he was unable to perform the physical actions, he could perform the prayer after leaving the hospital when he was able to perform the verbal parts. So, for example, after ten or fifteen days, how is the making up of the missed prayers to be done? Is it obligatory for him to make them up consecutively, or is it permissible for him to make up each prayer with its corresponding time?
The Shaykh : First: May Allah reward you. The sick person who is unable to move by standing, sitting, bowing, or prostrating must pray, even if only with his eyes, as the jurists said. Some scholars do not establish prayer with the eyes due to the weakness of the hadith reported on this matter. As for praying with the finger, as the common people do, this has no basis. Some of the common people say that if you cannot bow, prostrate, or indicate, you do it with the finger: when standing, keep it standing like this; when bowing, bend it slightly; when prostrating, bend it more. This is not valid. We have not seen it in the Book, nor in the Sunnah, nor in the words of the scholars. But we say: if you are unable to move, intend with your heart. The tongue is usually not incapacitated, but if it is also incapacitated, intend with the heart the takbir, the recitation, the bowing, the prostrating, the standing, and the sitting. So, if we assume that some people did not pray thinking that if they were unable to move, they would postpone the prayer until they recovered, or thinking that their clothes were dirty with impurity and saying, "If Allah heals me, I will wear clean, pure clothes and then pray."
The questioner : What if he is unconscious?
The Shaykh : No, the unconscious person is not included. We say that the sin is dropped from him based on his interpretation, even though in reality he is considered negligent, because it is obligatory to ask the people of knowledge. However, the obligation to make up the missed prayers is not dropped from him; he must make them up in order, all at once, without waiting for each prayer to be made up with its time. So, if we assume that he left off ten days' worth of prayers and he is able to pray them in one day, let him do so, because making up the missed prayers is obligatory immediately, meaning one must hasten to do it. As for what is common among the people that one makes up the midday prayer with the midday prayer and the afternoon prayer with the afternoon prayer until they are finished, that is an error. However, if he was unconscious, whether due to the severity of his illness or an accident that befell him, there is no making up of prayers for him; rather, the prayer is dropped from him because he is unable to wake up, unlike the sleeper. Indeed, whoever sleeps through a prayer or forgets it, let him pray it when he remembers it.
The questioner : And what about the one under anesthesia?
The Shaykh : No, as for the one under anesthesia, you see that from our standpoint, I do not accept but one question, O Shaykh. The one under anesthesia makes up the missed prayers because his unconsciousness or loss of mind was by his own choice. Yes.
The questioner : Your Eminence, what is the reported supplication?
The Shaykh : On the right.
The questioner : In the name of Allah, and all praise is for Allah, and may the prayer and peace be upon the Messenger of Allah.
The Shaykh : You are excused...