the loss of humble concentration in the prayer (khushuʿ), because khushuʿ is the foremost objective of the prayer, as Imām al-Ḥaramayn al-Juwaynī has observed.
4 – The excuses that permit one to perform the obligatory prayer while seated are many and are not limited to sickness. A low ceiling from which one cannot emerge, praying on a boat, ship, automobile, or airplane when circumstances require it, and any other inability to stand are all valid concessions.
5 – The majority of scholars maintain that the prayer is never waived so long as a person’s mind remains sound. Thus, if a sick person cannot gesture with his head, he gestures with his eyes: he lowers them slightly for bowing and lowers them further for prostration. If he is able to recite with his tongue he must do so; otherwise he recites in his heart. Should he be unable even to gesture with his eyes, he performs the prayer with his heart.
Shaykh Taqī al-Dīn, however, held that when a patient is incapable of head-movement the prayer is no longer obligatory; he is not required to gesture with his eyes. This is also the position of Abū Ḥanīfah and one report from Aḥmad.
Shaykh ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Saʿdī said: “There is no authentic proof for a sick person’s praying with only his eyes or his heart. The plain meaning of the hadith indicates that praying on one’s side with head gestures is the last obligatory level.”
The compiler remarks: The view of the majority—that the prayer does not lapse so long as consciousness and sanity remain—is the more precautionary. The default ruling is that prayer is due from every Muslim, for the Law originally demands it; therefore its cancellation requires clear evidence. Allah knows best.
6 – The absolute wording of the hadith indicates that when one prays seated he may sit in whatever posture he wishes, and this is a point of consensus. The dispute concerns what is preferable. According to the majority, he sits cross-legged during the positions of standing and after rising from bowing, and he sits with his legs folded beneath him after rising from prostration. This is based on the report of al-Nasāʾī (1661) and al-Ḥākim (1/389) on the authority of ʿĀʾishah—