Praying During Illness: Can You Delay or Skip Prayers?

Understanding the Rulings on Prayer During Sickness and Illness

Question: If one is not feeling well, with body aches and a high fever, can they delay any prayer? Also, during illness, if one only prays the obligatory prayers and skips the Sunnah prayers, will the prayer be valid?

Answer: If one is unwell and finds it difficult to pray at the beginning of the time, they can pray at any time from the beginning to the end of the prayer time. If the difficulty is severe, they can perform “combined prayers” (Jam’ Taqdim or Jam’ Ta’khir), which means praying one prayer at the end of its time and the next prayer at the beginning of its time, thus performing two prayers together with a short interval.

Regarding the second issue, whether in sickness or health, one should strive to perform the Sunnah prayers along with the obligatory prayers. The Sunnah prayers bring great reward and compensate for any shortcomings in the obligatory prayers. Allah has provided ease in prayer, allowing one to pray sitting if they cannot stand, and lying down if they cannot sit. Occasionally missing Sunnah prayers is not an issue, but consistently neglecting them is not correct. Our Prophet (peace be upon him) always performed the Sunnah prayers along with the obligatory prayers, and if he missed the Sunnah prayers, he would make them up later.

✍ Sheikh Maqbool Ahmed Salafi (may Allah protect him)

❪Jeddah Dawah Center, Al-Salamah – Saudi Arabia❫