Lesson 6 of 6 · When to stop reading and see someone

Praying while you feel like this

People stop praying rather than pray badly, and that is a heavy price for a thing nobody asked of them. The report below is the concession chain in the text. Whether a panic attack reaches the threshold it describes, and where exactly that threshold sits, is a fiqh question. Ask a scholar you trust, once, and take the answer.

Qur’an and Sunnah

The general principle underneath that concession. What is asked of a person is bounded by what they can carry. Nobody asked you to pray beyond your capacity, so stopping altogether is a heavy price for a thing that was never required of you.

لَا يُكَلِّفُ ٱللَّهُ نَفۡسًا إِلَّا وُسۡعَهَاۚ لَهَا مَا كَسَبَتۡ وَعَلَيۡهَا مَا ٱكۡتَسَبَتۡۗ رَبَّنَا لَا تُؤَاخِذۡنَآ إِن نَّسِينَآ أَوۡ أَخۡطَأۡنَاۚ رَبَّنَا وَلَا تَحۡمِلۡ عَلَيۡنَآ إِصۡرࣰ ا كَمَا حَمَلۡتَهُۥ عَلَى ٱلَّذِينَ مِن قَبۡلِنَاۚ رَبَّنَا وَلَا تُحَمِّلۡنَا مَا لَا طَاقَةَ لَنَا بِهِۦۖ وَٱعۡفُ عَنَّا وَٱغۡفِرۡ لَنَا وَٱرۡحَمۡنَآۚ أَنتَ مَوۡلَىٰنَا فَٱنصُرۡنَا عَلَى ٱلۡقَوۡمِ ٱلۡكَٰفِرِينَ

God does not burden any soul with more than it can bear: each gains whatever good it has done, and suffers its bad- ‘ Lord, do not take us to task if we forget or make mistakes. Lord, do not burden us as You burdened those before us. Lord, do not burden us with more than we have strength to bear. Pardon us, forgive us, and have mercy on us. You are our Protector, so help us against the disbelievers.’

Qur’an 2:286

Be mindful of God as much as you can. The same bound as the verse beside it, but put as an instruction rather than as a statement about what you are not burdened with. Where the line falls on a given day is a scholar's question.

فَٱتَّقُواْ ٱللَّهَ مَا ٱسۡتَطَعۡتُمۡ وَٱسۡمَعُواْ وَأَطِيعُواْ وَأَنفِقُواْ خَيۡرࣰ ا لِّأَنفُسِكُمۡۗ وَمَن يُوقَ شُحَّ نَفۡسِهِۦ فَأُوْلَٰٓئِكَ هُمُ ٱلۡمُفۡلِحُونَ

be mindful of God as much as you can; hear and obey; be charitable- it is for your own good. Those who are saved from their own meanness will be the prosperous ones

Qur’an 64:16

The concession chain. Standing, then sitting, then lying on your side. Whether what happens to you reaches the point it describes is a fiqh question, and one to put to a scholar you trust rather than settle here.

Narrated `Imran bin Husain: I had piles, so I asked the Prophet (ﷺ) about the prayer. He said, "Pray while standing and if you can't, pray while sitting and if you cannot do even that, then pray Lying on your side

Sahih al-Bukhari 1117graded sound, sahihaynthe Arabic and its grading

Translation: M.A.S. Abdel Haleem, The Qur'an, Oxford University Press, 2004.