Combining
prayers for the resident
source:
fatāwā jeddah ~ rulings from jeddah ~ tape no. 13
Question #5: “Is it allowed for the resident to combine
between two prayers without (the presence of) rain?”
Shaykh al-Albānī answers:
“Imām Muslim brought out in his Sahīh, the hadīth on the
authority of Ibn ʽAbbās who said: ‘The Messenger of Allāh (صلى
الله عليه وسلم) combined (prayers) in Madīnah between Dhuhr
and ʽAsr, and between Maghrib and ʽIshā, without (being in a
state of) traveling or (the presence of) rain.’ They said,
‘What did he intend by that O Abu l-ʽAbbās[1] {the kunya of
ʽAbdullāh bin ʽAbbās}?’ He said, ‘He wanted to not put his
ummah into difficulties.’[2]
So the apparent meaning of the hadīth is that it is
permissible to combine between two prayers in the state of
residence and without the excuse of rain, because rain is an
Islamically legislated excuse that allows combining between
two prayers. And here Ibn ʽAbbās says that the Prophet (صلى
الله عليه وسلم) combined as a resident and combined without
the excuse of rain. And he confirmed that when the previous
question was addressed to him: ‘Why did he do that?’ (Ibn
‘Abbās) said, ‘He wanted to not put his ummah into
difficulties.’ This is the hadīth and it is in Sahīh Muslim
but not al-Bukhāri. There is the like of this hadīth in al-Bukhāri,
(mentioning that) he combined between the prayers in Madīnah
as eight (rakʽah),[3] but there isn’t this detail that Imām
Muslim mentioned or narrated from Ibn ʽAbbās, in which there
is this important point that is the answer to this question,
namely his (radiAllāhu ‘anhu) saying: ‘He wanted to not put
his ummah into difficulties.’
So some of the scholars in old times and recent times
believe in the permissibility of this combining during
residence without an excuse, and I don’t consider that to be
correct; that is because the narrator of the hadīth explains
the combining of the Messenger (of Allāh) (صلى الله عليه
وسلم) without an excuse, to be another excuse as a method of
legislating (from Allāh) and explaining to the people, since
Ibn ʽAbbās said, ‘He (صلى الله عليه وسلم) wanted to not put
his ummah into difficulties.’ And the meaning of that is:
the ruling of combining during residence is tied to the
presence of difficulty (that would arise) due to not
combining. So when there is difficulty in performing the
prayers in their known appointed times, it is permissible to
combine in order to remove the difficulty, which Allaah, the
Mighty and Majestic, has removed in the likes of His Saying:
‘And He has not laid upon you in religion any hardship.’[4]
As for if there is no difficulty, then it is obligatory to
maintain performing the five prayers, each prayer in its
(due) time, because there is no difficulty.
For example, I am sitting here and I hear the adhān (call to
prayer) there in the masjid near me, while I am capable of
going out and there is no difficulty upon me at all to go
out, so it is not permissible for me to combine. And the
opposite of that as well; when I came in this journey, I
found this electric elevator to be out of order, and it is
very difficult for me, as you see because of a pain in my
two knees, to go down or up by way of stairs. So some
prayers passed by me (but) I didn’t go out to the masjid.
But when the electric elevator was fixed such that it saved
me the difficulty of descending and ascending, it became
obligatory upon me to pray every prayer in the masjid
because I did not find this difficulty that I had found when
I had just moved here. Therefore, combining is only allowed
for the purpose of removing a difficulty; so, when there is
no difficulty, there is no combining. They are two
inseparable affairs: no difficulty, no combining; (but if)
there is difficulty, there is (the possibility and
permissibility of) combining. And this is the best that can
be said with regard to reconciling between this authentic
hadīth and those ahādīth that came stating that every prayer
(is to be prayed) in its (due) time[5] and that it is not
allowed to distract oneself from it – especially because in
most circumstances, combining requires abandoning prayer
with the congregation, as I described to you my first
situation (with the electric elevator).”
~ asaheeha translations ~
[1] The addition “O Abu l-ʽAbbās” is found in Musnad Ahmad
4/192
[2] Sahīh Muslim #705
[3] Sahīh al-Bukhārī #543
[4] Sūrat ul-Hajj, 22:78
[5] Sahīh Muslim #648
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