The author, may Allah have mercy on him, also indicates by his statement, “whoever travels,” that prayer cannot be shortened without travel. Even if a person is suffering from the most severe illness, he may not shorten it.

Thus, illness, being occupied, and fatigue cannot be grounds for shortening the prayer. If one of you were to visit a sick person and ask him, “How do you pray?” and he replied, “Praise be to Allah in every circumstance; because of the severity of my illness, I have been shortening my prayers for some time,” we would say to him: “Repeat your prayer,” for there is no basis for shortening other than travel.

If one of you were to visit a sick person and ask about his condition and his prayer, and he said, “Praise be to Allah in every circumstance; for fifteen days I have been combining Zuhr and Asr, and Maghrib and Isha,” we would say: “What you have done is valid, because combining prayers is permissible in cases of hardship. Wherever hardship is found, whether one is travelling or resident, combining is permissible—unlike shortening the prayer.”

If one of you were to visit another sick person and ask him, “How are you, and how is your prayer?” and he replied, “Praise be to Allah in every circumstance; I do not pray the five daily prayers except all together at bedtime, because that exhausts me …” What should we say to him?

The answer is that we say: “Simply repent.” Repeating his prayers would not benefit him, because he performs each prayer in full; yet he delays Zuhr and Asr beyond their proper times. And if he also prays Isha after midnight, then he has caused all the prayers to fall outside their prescribed times. We therefore say to him: “You have erred. It is not lawful for you to delay the prayer beyond its time. Rather, pray each prayer at its appointed time, whatever your condition may be.”