Is It Permissible for the Elderly to Combine Prayers in Hanafi School?

Answered by Shaykh Yusuf Weltch

Question

My 91-year-old grandmother follows the Hanafi madhab and struggles to pray each salah on time due to health issues and weakness.

Is it permissible for her to follow the Hanbali position, allowing a sick person to combine prayers (taqdim or takhir), as even jama suri may sometimes be difficult for her?

Answer

In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate.

If it is difficult for your grandmother to pray each prayer in its time, there are some dispensations she may take:

1. If performing the ablution for her is unduly difficult, and/or she cannot do so without the help of another, she is permitted to perform tayammum in place of wudu.

2. If performing the prayer standing is difficult for her, she may pray sitting, or lying down if even sitting is unduly difficult for her.

3. Regarding the prayer timings, if delaying one prayer till its end time and performing the next prayer immediately when it enters is still unduly difficult—Imam al-Nawawi of the Shafi‘i School, as well as scholars from other Schools of Thought have allowed for combining prayers due to sickness (or in this case old age). [Nawawi, al-Majmu‘]

Hope this helps
Allah knows best
[Shaykh] Yusuf Weltch
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Abdul-Rahim Reasat

Shaykh Yusuf Weltch is a teacher of Arabic, Islamic law, and spirituality. After accepting Islam in 2008, he went on to study at Darul Uloom Seminary in New York and completed his studies at Darul Mustafa in Tarim, Yemen.

There, he completed the memorization of the Quran and his study of Islamic Sciences. Throughout his years of study, he was blessed to learn from many great scholars: Habib Umar bin Hafiz, Habib Kazhim al-Saqqaf, Shaykh ‘Umar bin Husayn al-Khatib, and others.

Upon returning, he joined the SeekersGuidance faculty in the summer of 2019.