Skip to content
Oasis of Knowledge
Prayers/Salaat

How Do I Pray if I Cannot Stand?

Pray sitting; if you cannot sit, lying on your side; if you cannot, then by indication. The obligation does not lift, only the form changes.

RA Ustadha Safiyyah Rahman 3 min read

Answers are more useful when you can see the working, so the evidence is set out below.

The evidence

‘Imran ibn Husayn was told: pray standing, and if you cannot then sitting, and if you cannot then on your side (Sahih al-Bukhari 1117).

Some later scholars added praying by indication with the eyes or the heart where no bodily movement is possible.

One who prays sitting due to genuine inability receives the full reward of praying standing.

In practice

  • Make the sujud lower than the ruku‘ by indication when seated.
  • A chair at the back of the row is permitted; scholars differ on aligning the feet or the seat.
  • Do not abandon the prayer because you cannot perform it in the usual form.

The measure of an article like this is whether anything about tomorrow is different. Choose the one line that applies to you.

Go deeper. Thousands of answers, searchable by topic and reviewed before publication, are at Islamic Q&A — qa.hisnulmuslimapp.com.

Hisnul Muslim

The Fortress of the Muslim — authentic supplications for every moment of the day and night, with Arabic, transliteration, translation and references.

Open the app

More in Prayers/Salaat

View all →