The importance of considering people's conditions when lengthening the night prayer and progressing with them in that
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The Shaykh : The occasion of breaking the fast with dates; this is a recommended practice (sunnah).
The questioner : ... .
The Shaykh : One hour or an hour and a half after 'Isha', which is immediately after 'Isha. And as I said, it is expected that some of the elderly, the old men, or the sick are unable to stand with the rest of us. So it is said to them: "My brother, sit down, sit down, so that you do not say we have lengthened it for us." No, because this is not an obligatory prayer here; it is a voluntary prayer. It is permissible for someone who is ill or somewhat tired in the voluntary prayer of standing in the night prayer to sit down, if he is able to stand. By doing so, this prayer does not become burdensome for him... He becomes accustomed to it after you have continued with this prayer for a period, meaning two or three Ramadans, and the congregation becomes accustomed to it. Then you proceed to the second step, not immediately at the start. There is no new mosque except that they begin by making a leap like a gazelle. This is difficult; it will cause a backlash. Therefore, we need to proceed with the matter by observing human natures. Human natures must be accustomed to bearing difficulties and hardships. So I do not advise now to... but rather to lengthen this prayer.
The questioner : All right, and if the congregation... were already accustomed to this in another mosque.
The Shaykh : I am not concerned only with them; I am concerned with the entire mosque, all the people of this mosque. We want to bring in new customers; we do not want to merely maintain the current number.
The questioner : ... .
The Shaykh : One hour or an hour and a half after 'Isha', which is immediately after 'Isha. And as I said, it is expected that some of the elderly, the old men, or the sick are unable to stand with the rest of us. So it is said to them: "My brother, sit down, sit down, so that you do not say we have lengthened it for us." No, because this is not an obligatory prayer here; it is a voluntary prayer. It is permissible for someone who is ill or somewhat tired in the voluntary prayer of standing in the night prayer to sit down, if he is able to stand. By doing so, this prayer does not become burdensome for him... He becomes accustomed to it after you have continued with this prayer for a period, meaning two or three Ramadans, and the congregation becomes accustomed to it. Then you proceed to the second step, not immediately at the start. There is no new mosque except that they begin by making a leap like a gazelle. This is difficult; it will cause a backlash. Therefore, we need to proceed with the matter by observing human natures. Human natures must be accustomed to bearing difficulties and hardships. So I do not advise now to... but rather to lengthen this prayer.
The questioner : All right, and if the congregation... were already accustomed to this in another mosque.
The Shaykh : I am not concerned only with them; I am concerned with the entire mosque, all the people of this mosque. We want to bring in new customers; we do not want to merely maintain the current number.
Source
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The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.