How Do I Perform the Prostration Of the Prayer If It Causes Me Great Pain?

Question: How do I perform the prostration of the prayer if it causes me great pain to do so?

Answer:

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

If prostrating causes you unbearable pain (as you mentioned) you will pray in the following manner:

(1) Sit down, facing the Qibla, in any way that you find comfortable.
(2) In place of the bowing and the prostration, you can suffice with just motioning with your head by bowing it downward.
(3) The motion that you use for the prostration must be lower than that of the bowing.
[Tahtawi/Shurunbulali, Hashiyat Maraqi al-Falah]

Once the pain subsides such that it is bearable you must return to the normal performance of the prayer. [Ibid.]

I hope this helps,
Allah knows best.
[Shaykh] Yusuf Weltch

Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

Shaykh Yusuf Weltch is a graduate from Tarim; a student of Habib Umar and other luminaries; and authorized teachers of the Qur’an and the Islamic sciences