If he is unable even to gesture, he is regarded as being in a faint; nevertheless, so long as he retains any degree of awareness, the obligation of prayer is not lifted from him.

Should a sick person fear that he will lose consciousness altogether or that his condition will markedly worsen, it is permissible for him to combine two prayers in the manner allowed to a traveller, either bringing forward or delaying whichever of the two he fears he will miss in its appointed time. Mālik likewise held that if performing wuḍūʾ would cause him undue hardship, he may combine, for his excuse is greater than that of the traveller. There is no objection to an ill person’s praying on a bed or stretcher.

Any obligatory prayer that an intoxicated person omits—or that he performs wholly or partly while the drink has overtaken his mind—must be made up. One who is unconscious, however, makes up nothing, for he lacks the faculty of reason and is therefore not addressed by the law. If he regains consciousness while enough time remains for him to perform a single rakʿah of the current prayer, he must make that prayer up. Likewise, if he delayed a prayer after its time had begun until he fainted, while he had been capable of performing it, he is required to make it up. Another view holds that no make-up is due unless he lost consciousness at a moment when, even had he started the prayer, he could not have finished it until after its time had ended, or could not have caught a single rakʿah before the time expired.

The same ruling applies to a menstruating woman; this is the position of Mālik. In his view it makes no difference whether her bleeding begins at the start or at the end of a prayer’s time—the prayer is waived in either case. Thus, if her menses start while enough daylight remains for five rakʿahs, both Ẓuhr and ʿAṣr drop from her. If she begins menstruating when four down to one rakʿah of the day remain and she has not yet prayed those two prayers, she must make up Ẓuhr, because her bleeding began after its time had ended, while ʿAṣr is waived because she bled during its time. Likewise, if her menses begin at night when enough time remains before dawn for four rakʿahs, Maghrib and ʿIshāʾ are waived, because her menstruation began at the end of their time.