The ruling on one who leaves a number of prayers due to his illness

The question: The following message was sent by our brother Nasser al-Baridi from the Eastern Region. He says: I was ill in the hospital, lying in a bed, for about a week. My illness intensified and I was unable to pray. But after I came out of the hospital, I prayed all the times that I had missed in the afternoon, and I prayed them shortened, two rak'ahs for each time. Is this prayer of mine valid or not?
The answer: First, it is obligatory for you to pray while you are ill, even if you are sitting or lying down. You pray according to your condition, for Allah the Exalted says: [Surat al-Taghabun: 16]. And the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said to the sick person: This is how the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) commanded him. So the sick person does what he is able to do. If he is able to stand, he prays standing. If he is unable, he prays sitting. If he is unable, he prays on his right side or his left side, and the right side is better. If he is unable, he prays lying on his back with his feet toward the qiblah. This is what is prescribed. If he does not do this, it is obligatory for him to make up the prayers. If he did not do so on the assumption that he would complete them later, or because his condition was difficult while the illness was present, all of this is wrong. However, he must make them up, because he left them under a doubt, so he must make them up and hasten to make them up when he is able to do so. He must pray four rak'ahs; he does not pray two, two. Praying two, two is for the traveler. As for the sick person, he prays four and does not pray two. Shortening the prayer is exclusively for travelers. As for the sick, they only combine, because it is permissible for them to combine the two prayers of Dhuhr and Asr, and Maghrib and Isha. As for shortening, meaning that he prays two, that is not allowed. But some people are misled by what they hear from some common people who say: "The sick person may shorten." Their intention by shortening is combining. They call combining "shortening," and this is a mistake in language. Combining Dhuhr and Asr, and combining Maghrib and Isha, is not called shortening; it is called combining, because it is combining the two prayers in the time of one of them, so it is called combining, not shortening. As for shortening, it is that he prays Dhuhr as two, Asr as two, and Isha as two. This is shortening, and it is specific to travelers. The traveler is the one who prays two rak'ahs. As for the sick person, he must pray four, but he may combine Dhuhr and Asr, and he may combine Maghrib and Isha because of the illness. And Allah is the One to be asked for help. Yes.