—I add: this is also the position of the Hanafis and of some Shafiʿis, as stated in the two “Faths,” Fath al-Bari and Fath al-Qadir. Yet the first opinion remains the authoritative one in the Shafiʿi school, according to al-Majmuʿ, and they support it with the marfuʿ hadith of ʿAli: “The sick person prays standing if he can; if he cannot—When does the sick person pray sitting?—he answered: when standing weakens and debilitates him, then I prefer that he pray sitting.” Ishaq ibn Rahuyah does not require total inability; the mere presence of hardship suffices. The well-known Shafiʿi definition of “inability” is the occurrence of severe hardship in standing, or fear of aggravating the illness or of death; slight inconvenience is not enough. Severe hardship includes, for example, dizziness for someone aboard a ship and the danger of drowning were he to pray standing there. I further note: what he reported about the Shafiʿis is likewise the sound view among the Hanafis, as stated in al-Bahr al-Raiq (2/121) and other works of the school. Supporting evidence may be sought in the report transmitted by al-Tabarani in al-Awsat from Ibn ʿAbbas, marfuʿ: “The sick person prays standing; if hardship overtakes him, he prays sitting; if hardship overtakes him, he prays lying down and gestures with his head; if hardship overtakes him, he makes tasbih.” Al-Tabarani said: “No one narrated it from Ibn Jurayj except Hils ibn Muhammad al-Dubai.” Al-Haythami (2/149) comments: “I have found no biographical entry for him, while the remainder of the transmitters are trustworthy.” Ibn Hajar is silent about it in Fath al-Bari, and in al-Talkhis (3/294) he states: “Its chain is weak.” Al-Tirmidhi observed: “The scholars have differed regarding the prayer of a sick person who cannot pray sitting: some said he should pray on his right side, while others said he should lie on his back with his feet toward the qibla.”