What should Elders who keep forgetting Al-Fatiha due to old age do?

Uploaded Jan 15, 2024

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Question

I have a grandmother who is over one hundred and forty years old. She is still alive, and she can walk a short distance. However, she does not know some of the obligations of Salah (prayer). And every time I try to teach her the Tashahud, Fatiha, some short Surahs of the Qur'an, and what she should say in her Salah, she can no longer understand well; After two days she forgets what I say to her. So, will I get any sin because of her since I have learned myself? Benefit us, may Allah grant you success.

Sheikh Ibn Uthaymeen

You do not get any sin because of her if you fulfill your duty of teaching her. So, if you taught her and she forgot, there would be no sin upon you because of her. However, re-educate her time and time again. She is your mother or your grandmother; you should take great care of her, especially when she has reached extreme old age. So, she needs follow ups and to be taught so that she does not forget. And what you are not capable of teaching her, Allah The Exalted does not hold you accountable for, because of His statement: {Allāh burdens not a person beyond his scope.} [Surah Al-Baqarah 2:286].

Additional references

The Series of Fatwas of Noorun Ala Addarb for his eminence the scholar sheikh Muhammad Ibn Ibn Uthaymeen Tape: 2 Fatwa: 5