who said, “I saw the Prophet ﷺ praying while sitting cross-legged.”

7 – This report shows that Allah’s commands are to be fulfilled in proportion to one’s ability and strength; He does not burden a soul beyond its capacity. The Prophet ﷺ said, “When I command you to do something, carry out of it whatever you are able.” [Al-Bukhārī 7288]

8 – It likewise demonstrates the leniency and ease of this Muhammadan legislation, for—as the Exalted says—“He has not laid upon you any hardship in the religion” (22:78), and “Allah intends to lighten your burden” (4:28). Truly, Allah’s mercy toward His servants is vast.

9 – The foregoing rulings concern the obligatory prayer. As for supererogatory (nafl) prayers, they are valid if performed seated even without an excuse; with an excuse the reward is complete, and without an excuse the reward is half that of one who prays standing. In Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī it is related from ʿImrān ibn Ḥuṣayn that he asked the Prophet ﷺ about a man’s praying while seated. The Prophet replied, “Whoever prays standing, that is better; whoever prays seated receives half the reward of the one who stands; and whoever prays lying down receives half the reward of the one who sits.”

Ibn Ḥajar states in Fatḥ al-Bārī that Ibn at-Tīn and others—among them Abū ʿUbayd, Ibn al-Mājishūn, and Ismāʿīl al-Qāḍī—held that this ḥadīth applies to voluntary prayer, and al-Tirmidhī reports the same interpretation from ath-Thawrī.