Buhari Sitting On A Chair Inside Mosque: This Is What It Means

Buhari Sitting On A Chair Inside Mosque: This Is What It Means

There have been discussions on why President Muhammadu Buhari sat on a chair inside the mosque during Friday Jumat service.

The first time Buhari was seen sitting on a chair to observe prayers was during the recent Eid-il-Fitri prayer with his family in the Aso Villa in Abuja.

Before now, the President is not known for sitting on the chair to observe any form of Solat, be it obligatory or ceremonial. Even after he returned from a medical tourism then, he attended the Jumat services praying on the mat like other worshippers.

The question is, what has changed? Is anybody allowed to sit on a chair inside the mosque?

As we are ageing, the body also changes. Our health is also affected and that may mean different things in different parts of the body to different individuals.

To some, their legs are affected as they age. Some, their eyes and so on.

Performing prayer while sitting on a chair is not allowed for people who have the ability to perform the prayer in a normal way.

That is, anybody who has the ability to perform the prayer, by paying due regard to all the postures of prayer like qiyam, ruku`, sujud, etc should do so without any excuse.

In Islam, it is only the sick and travelers that are allowed to pray in the sitting position, lowering their heads a little bit for ruku` and more for sujud.

In fact, sick people people are allowed to pray in whatever position they deem convenient, even while lying down.

For those who are not sick, it is forbidden to pray sitting down on a chair, whether they are praying in private places or public. In Islam, all the postures of prayer must be observed.

A Saudi Islamic lecturer and author, Sheikh Muhammad Saleh Al-Munajjid says “Standing is an essential part of prayer, if a person fails to stand during the prayer, from the initial Takbeer to the final salam, with no valid excuse for that, his prayer is invalid.”

According to Al-Baqarah: 238, Allah says: “And stand before Allah with obedience”.

For obligatory prayers, if a person sits down to pray when he is able to stand, his prayer will be invalid before Allah. Truly, such prayer will not get any reward. More so, this is actually counted as a sin.

As a result, it is important to tell those who perform prayers sitting on the chairs during the obligatory prayers that it is not allowed for them to do so if they are able to stand.

This is allowed unless they find it extremely difficult to stand.

Get it right, somebody must find it extremely difficult to stand or to observe all postures. A slight difficulty is not an excuse.

I have seen people asking if Buhari is bigger than God for sitting on a chair during Eid and Jumaat prayers.

It is not a matter of being bigger than God. It is a matter of the condition of the body.

Many people commenting on this issue have no idea what it means to observe prayers sitting on a chair.