Thus Allah made prayer obligatory for those who are safe and those who are afraid, the healthy and the sick, the rich and the poor, residents and travelers. Yet He granted concessions to travelers, those in fear (1), the sick, and poor people who cannot find a means of purification or who lack sufficient means (2), as prescribed in the Book and the sunnah.
He waived whatever obligations of the prayer a servant is incapable of fulfilling, including purification, facing the Kaaba, reciting al-Fātiha, and fully performing the bowing, prostration, and standing (3).
Thus, if a group were shipwrecked or combatants stripped them of their clothes, they would pray naked (4), as their circumstances permitted, with (5) their prayer leader standing in their midst so that the others would not see his intimate parts.
If they were uncertain (6) of the direction of prayer, they would exercise their judgment to determine it from the available signs (7). If those signs could not be discerned, they would pray in whatever manner was possible, just as it has been reported that people did during the lifetime of the Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him (8).
(1) The passage beginning with “The correct view…” through this point is omitted from (ي).
(2) The words “the poor person who cannot find a means of purification or has no financial means” are from the original manuscript.
(3) The other manuscripts read: “Likewise, He made purification, covering oneself, and facing the *qibla* (direction of prayer) [ف: ‘the Kaaba’] obligatory in it, while waiving whatever of these the servant is incapable of.”
(4) (ي) reads: “naked.”
(5) (ي، ز) read: “and [their imam] stood.”
(6) (ي، ز) read: “became unclear to them.”
(7) (ي) reads: “toward it”; this is absent from (ف، ب، ل).
(8) This is based on the hadith of ʿĀmir ibn Rabīʿa, who said: “We were traveling with the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—on a dark night and did not know the direction of the *qibla*. Each man among us therefore prayed facing a direction of his own. When morning came, we mentioned this to the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—and the following was revealed: ‘To Allah belong the east and the west; wherever you turn, there is the Face of Allah. Indeed, Allah is All-Encompassing, All-Knowing.’”
Reported by al-Tirmidhī (345), Ibn Mājah (1020), al-Dāraqutnī (1/272), al-Bayhaqī (2/11), and others. Al-Tirmidhī said: “This hadith does not have a strong chain of transmission. We know it only through Ashʿath al-Sammān, and Ashʿath ibn Saʿīd, Abū al-Rabīʿ al-Sammān, is considered weak in hadith transmission.” End quote.