Is It Permissible to Pray Standing?

Answered by Shaykh Yusuf Weltch

Question

Sometimes I go to my kid’s games, and it’s prayer time. I pray the Fard while standing. I don’t find a spot to sit. Is it permissible?

Answer

In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate

Praying Standing

If ‘praying standing’ means that the entire prayer is done in the standing position, this is impermissible.

Praying Sitting

If one is unable to perform the prostration due to a sufficient excuse, such as back or knee pain, it is permissible for one to pray sitting. They will use head gestures instead of bowing and prostrating in such a situation.

However, if one does not have such an excuse, they are not permitted to pray sitting. Even if someone is in public or at a kid’s event, it is unlikely that there be no place where someone could perform the prayer.

Taking Precautions

One can take steps before going to such a place, enabling one to perform their prayers. Possible steps to take are:

• Performing ablution before going
• Bringing a prayer mat (or anything clean to pray on)
• Planning a suitable place where one can comfortably pray without causing others difficulty. [Shurunbulali, Maraqi al-Falah]

Hope this helps

Allah knows best

[Shaykh] Yusuf Weltch
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

Shaykh Yusuf Weltch is a teacher of Arabic, Islamic law, and spirituality. After accepting Islam in 2008, he then completed four years at the Darul Uloom seminary in New York where he studied Arabic and the traditional sciences. He then traveled to Tarim, Yemen, where he stayed for three years studying in Dar Al-Mustafa under some of the greatest scholars of our time, including Habib Umar Bin Hafiz, Habib Kadhim al-Saqqaf, and Shaykh Umar al-Khatib. In Tarim, Shaykh Yusuf completed the memorization of the Qur’an and studied beliefs, legal methodology, hadith methodology, Qur’anic exegesis, Islamic history, and a number of texts on spirituality. He joined the SeekersGuidance faculty in the summer of 2019.