If the patient prays while seated and cannot place his forehead on the ground, or if he prays on his side or on his back as described above, he should indicate the bowing and prostration by lowering his head, making the movement for prostration lower than that for bowing. Should he be sitting yet still able to prostrate on the ground, he must do so; head movements alone are not sufficient.

The proof that a sick person may pray in these specific ways is the report collected by al-Bukhari and the authors of the Sunan from ʿImrān ibn Ḥuṣayn (d. AH). He said, “I was afflicted with hemorrhoids, so I asked the Prophet ﷺ about it. He replied, ‘Pray standing; if you cannot, then pray sitting; if you cannot, then on your side.’” Al-Nasāʾī adds, “And if you cannot, then on your back—‘Allah does not burden a soul beyond its capacity’ (Quran 2:286).”

Here we must caution that some patients—particularly those who have undergone surgery—abandon the prayer, claiming they cannot perform it in its complete form, cannot find water for ablution, or that their clothes are impure, and the like. This is a grave mistake. A Muslim is not allowed to omit the prayer simply because he is unable to fulfill some of its conditions, pillars, or obligations; rather, he must pray according to his circumstances. Allah the Exalted says, “So fear Allah as much as you are able” (Quran 64:16).

Some patients say, “When I recover, I will make up the prayers I have missed.”