How Does a Bedridden Perform the Prayer Who is in a State of Major Ritual Impurity?

Answered by Mawlana Ilyas Patel

Question

Say a man is in bed, ill to the extent that he struggles physically to get out of bed due to illness. Note that it’s a temporary illness like a virus. The man, as a result of the virus, cannot pray standing or sitting but can lying down.

Also, he is in Janaba due to intercourse with his spouse before becoming ill. He has water in his house, but it’s cold, and he has no warm water due to financial reasons.

Can the man do tayammum in this situation and pray lying down in Hanafi fiqh? Will salat need to be repeated after recovery, even if he did it via Tayammum lying down?

Answer

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

I pray you are in good faith and health. Thank you for your question.

He will be allowed to do Tayammum and will not have to repeat his prayer later after he recovers from his illness.

Prayer

• If one cannot stand and perform the prayer, then one must sit and perform the prayer.
• If one cannot sit and perform it, then one must lie down and perform it.
• If one cannot lie down and perform it, then by the movements of one’s head.
• If one cannot perform by the movement of one’s head, then one must postpone the performance and makeup after one recovers. [Halabi, Halabi Saghir; Ibn ‘Abidin, Radd al-Muhtar]

I would like you to go through the valuable answers and links below. You will receive guidance and direction, in sha’ Allah.

Related:

• How Does a Bedridden Sick Person Perform the Prayer Who Cannot Sense Whether He Urinated or Defecated?
• Praying Rulings for The Sick, Injured, and Hospitalized.
• Prayer Reader: The Ultimate Guide To Prayer in Islam.

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I pray this helps with your question.
Wassalam,
[Mawlana] Ilyas Patel
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

Mawlana Ilyas Patel is a traditionally trained scholar who has studied in the UK, India, Pakistan, Syria, Jordan, and Turkey. He started his early education in the UK. He went on to complete the hifz of the Quran in India, then enrolled in an Islamic seminary in the UK, where he studied the secular and ‘Aalimiyya sciences. He then traveled to Karachi, Pakistan. He has been an Imam in Rep of Ireland for several years. He has taught hifz of the Quran, Tajwid, Fiqh, and many other Islamic sciences to children and adults onsite and online extensively in the UK and Ireland. He taught at a local Islamic seminary for 12 years in the UK, where he was a librarian and a teacher of Islamic sciences. He currently resides in the UK with his wife. His interest is a love of books and gardening.