I asked the Messenger of Allah ﷺ about a man praying while seated.He said, "Whoever prays standing, that is best. Whoever prays seated receives half the reward of one who prays standing, and whoever prays lying down receives half the reward of one who prays seated."In another narration he said, "I had hemorrhoids, so I asked the Prophet ﷺ about the prayer."He said, "Pray standing. If you cannot, then seated. If you cannot, then on your side."
سألت رسول الله ﷺ عن صلاة الرجل قاعدا فقال: إن صلى قائما فهو أفضل، ومن صلى قاعدا، فله نصف أجر القائم، ومن صلى نائما فله نصف أجر القاعد. وفي رواية قال: كانت بي بواسير، فسألت النبي ﷺ عن النبي عن الصلاة فقال: صل قائما، فإن لم تستطع فقاعدا، فإن لم تستطع فعلى جنب.
Bukhari narrated it in the chapter on shortening prayer (1116, 1117) through several routes from Husayn Muallim, from Abdullah bin Burayda, from Imran bin Husayn, who related it. Bukhari said, "lying down here, sleeping beside me." His statement, "I asked the Prophet ﷺ about prayer" refers to the prayer of the sick person, since he was suffering from hemorrhoids. This is made explicit in the narration of Tirmidhi (372), where he said, "I asked the Messenger of Allah ﷺ about the prayer of the sick person," and then related the hadith.The statement, "If he prays standing, that is better," applies to the voluntary prayer, since performing the obligatory prayers while sitting when one is able to stand is not permissible. The statement, "If he cannot, then on his side," applies to the prayer of a sick person who is unable to stand, and this involves no reduction of his reward, Allah willing.Sufyan Thawri said regarding this hadith, "Whoever prays sitting has half the reward of the one standing." He said, "This applies to the healthy person, one who has no excuse," meaning in voluntary prayers. "As for one who has an excuse due to illness or otherwise, and prays sitting, he has the same reward as the one standing." See Tirmidhi (2/210).I say, this is corroborated by what is established in Sahih Bukhari (2996), from the hadith of Abu Musa, as a saying of the Prophet, "When a servant falls ill or travels, he is credited with the same reward as when he was resident and healthy." See further, Minna Kubra (2/159–163).Hafiz said in Fath al-Bari (2/588), "This has been used as evidence by those who say that a sick person may not move to sitting until he is unable to stand. Iyad related this from Shafii. From Malik, Ahmad, and Ishaq, it is reported that inability is not the condition, but rather the presence of hardship. What is well known among the Shafiis is that the negation of ability means the presence of severe hardship in standing, or fear of the illness worsening, or fear of destruction, and mere slight hardship does not suffice. Among the forms of severe hardship is dizziness affecting one riding a ship, and fear of drowning if he prays standing on it." End of quote.He also said, "What supports the majority view is the hadith of Ibn Abbas recorded by Tabarani, with the wording, 'He prays standing, and if hardship befalls him then sitting, and if hardship befalls him then he prays lying down,'" and so on. "He thus considered the presence of hardship in both cases, without distinguishing between them." End of quote.I say, the hadith of Tabarani in Awsat (4009) is from Ali bin Saeed Razi, who said, Muhammad bin Yahya bin Fayyad Zamani told us, who said, Hulays bin Muhammad Dubai told us, who said, Ibn Jurayj told us, from Ataa and Nafi, from Ibn Abbas, as a saying of the Prophet. The remainder of the hadith reads, "He gestures with his head, and if hardship befalls him he makes the sound of glorification."Tabarani said, "This hadith was narrated from Ibn Jurayj only by Hulays, and Muhammad bin Yahya bin Fayyad alone transmitted it from him."Haythami said in Majma (2/149), after quoting Tabarani's remark, "I did not find anyone who gave a biography of him, and the rest of its narrators are trustworthy."Hafiz said in Talkhis (1/227), "There is weakness in its chain of transmission," and he was silent about it in Fath al-Bari.