Lesson 3 of 6 · It is not weak faith

Praying when you cannot get up

This is the most practical thing in the lesson. People stop praying entirely rather than pray badly, and that is a heavy price for a standard nobody set. The concession chain in the report below is in the text. Whether depression that has slowed you to a stop 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.

Two things from the Qur'an sit under that. The standard is set at capacity, in four words, be mindful of God as much as you can. And the three postures the report names, standing, sitting and lying on your side, are in the Qur'an as well.

Qur’an and Sunnah

Be mindful of God as much as you can (Quran 64:16). Four words, and the standard is set at your capacity rather than at a fixed amount.

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

Standing, sitting, and lying on your sides (Quran 4:103). The three postures the report names are in the Quran as well, which is what the concession sits under.

فَإِذَا قَضَيۡتُمُ ٱلصَّلَوٰةَ فَٱذۡكُرُواْ ٱللَّهَ قِيَٰمࣰ ا وَقُعُودࣰ ا وَعَلَىٰ جُنُوبِكُمۡۚ فَإِذَا ٱطۡمَأۡنَنتُمۡ فَأَقِيمُواْ ٱلصَّلَوٰةَۚ إِنَّ ٱلصَّلَوٰةَ كَانَتۡ عَلَى ٱلۡمُؤۡمِنِينَ كِتَٰبࣰ ا مَّوۡقُوتࣰ ا

After performing the ritual prayer, continue to remember God- standing, sitting, and lying on your sides- and once you are safe, keep up regular prayer, for prayer is obligatory for the believers at prescribed times

Qur’an 4:103

Pray standing; if you cannot, sitting; if you cannot do that, lying on your side. The concession chain, and it is in the text. Whether depression that has slowed you to a stop reaches the threshold it names is a fiqh question for a scholar rather than one answered 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.