359 – Jābir (may Allah be pleased with him) reported: “The Prophet ﷺ visited a sick man and found him praying on a cushion. He threw it aside and said, ‘Pray on the ground if you are able; otherwise, gesture, and make your prostration lower than your bowing.’” Narrated by al-Bayhaqī, and Abū Hātim ruled that the sound version is mawqūf (1).
Degree of authenticity
The hadith is weak. Al-Bayhaqī transmitted it with a strong chain, yet Abū Hātim judged the correct wording to be halted at Jābir, and al-Bayhaqī also recorded it through Sufyān al-Thawrī. Al-Bazzār said, “No one is known to have narrated it from al-Thawrī except Abū Bakr al-Ḥanafī.” Abū Hātim added, “The correct version is that it stops with Jābir; attributing it to the Prophet is a mistake.”
Vocabulary
• ʿāda: Al-Miṣbāḥ states, “ʿudtu al-marīḍa ʿiyādatan – I visited the sick.” The visitor is called ʿāʾid; plural ʿuwwād for men, ʿuwwad for women, without an alif. Al-Azharī said: this is the usage of the Arabs.
• wisādah – with a short i after the w: anything placed under the head.
• īmāʾ: originally means “movement.” It may be done with the eyebrows, eyes, hands, or head, and includes the patient’s bodily gestures for bowing and prostration.
Points inferred from the hadith
- It is disliked for one who is unable to prostrate to rest a cushion or the like above the ground and prostrate on it; he should prostrate directly on the ground if able, otherwise he should gesture.