What is the ruling on one who is unconscious for four days or more due to a stroke: does he have to make up the prayers he missed or not?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : O Shaykh, may Allah forgive you, what is the ruling on one who is unconscious for four days or more due to a stroke, and after he regains consciousness, this stroke returns to him? He asks whether he has to make up the prayers he missed, or what he should do?
The Shaykh : The correct view is that there is no obligation to make up prayers for one who is unconscious, provided it is not by his own choice.
The questioner : I mean, even if it is due to anesthesia, for example.
The Shaykh : No, I told you "not by his own choice" so that you know that if he becomes unconscious by his own choice, he has to make up the prayers. Anesthesia causes unconsciousness by one's own choice. So, if a person is anesthetized and does not regain consciousness from the anesthesia until after a day or two, he has to make up the prayers. But if it is not by his own choice, such as a stroke, a shock, a fall from a wall, or something similar, he does not have to make up the prayers, except for fasting. Fasting must be made up, even if one was unconscious, because fasting is not like prayer, which is repeated every day. For this reason, the menstruating woman was commanded to make up fasting, but she was not commanded to make up prayer after it.
The questioner : O Shaykh, may Allah reward you, the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): "When you pass by a grave..."
The Shaykh : What did the Prophet say?
The questioner : The saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him)...
The Shaykh : Peace be upon you.
The questioner : (peace and blessings be upon him)
The Shaykh : Yes, clarify it, my brother. May Allah reward you with good; you have a reward for this.
The Shaykh : The correct view is that there is no obligation to make up prayers for one who is unconscious, provided it is not by his own choice.
The questioner : I mean, even if it is due to anesthesia, for example.
The Shaykh : No, I told you "not by his own choice" so that you know that if he becomes unconscious by his own choice, he has to make up the prayers. Anesthesia causes unconsciousness by one's own choice. So, if a person is anesthetized and does not regain consciousness from the anesthesia until after a day or two, he has to make up the prayers. But if it is not by his own choice, such as a stroke, a shock, a fall from a wall, or something similar, he does not have to make up the prayers, except for fasting. Fasting must be made up, even if one was unconscious, because fasting is not like prayer, which is repeated every day. For this reason, the menstruating woman was commanded to make up fasting, but she was not commanded to make up prayer after it.
The questioner : O Shaykh, may Allah reward you, the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): "When you pass by a grave..."
The Shaykh : What did the Prophet say?
The questioner : The saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him)...
The Shaykh : Peace be upon you.
The questioner : (peace and blessings be upon him)
The Shaykh : Yes, clarify it, my brother. May Allah reward you with good; you have a reward for this.