Working at the airport on shifts; if he sleeps, he cannot get up for prayer, so may he combine?
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Fatwa number ( 19763 )
Q: Given that my job is on shifts, and for example, during the night shift, I find it extremely difficult to wake up for the Zuhr prayer, as I work at the Riyadh airport doing hard labor all night as an aircraft mechanic. Work ends at seven in the morning, and I sleep at eight-thirty. My home is half an hour
from work. I set my alarm for the Zuhr prayer, but I struggle greatly to wake up, fighting to get up for an hour and a half every day, like this throughout the night shift, which lasts a month and a half. I suffer from heavy sleep. We tried to ask our supervisors to change the working hours to accommodate the prayer times, but they said they could not, because the current time is the most suitable for scheduled flights. I have the same problem with the 'Asr shift, where I do not sleep except for two or three hours before the Fajr prayer, and often I do not wake up until after the dawn light has fully appeared. Is it permissible to combine the Zuhr and 'Asr prayers during the night shift ? Please give us a ruling, may Allah reward you with good.
A: It is obligatory for you to pray with the congregation of the Muslims, and you must fear Allah the Exalted and strive against your self in this, being keen to perform it in congregation; due to the generality of the saying of Allah the Exalted:[An-Nisa 4:103] , meaning: prescribed and obligatory at its time, as Allah and His Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) commanded. The excuse of working at night or during the day is not a legal excuse that permits you to combine the Zuhr prayer with the 'Asr, or to delay it from its time. You can delay your sleep until you pray the time if the prayer time is near, or
sleep before the prayer if there is ample time in the period, and you must exert the means that help you to wake up at prayer time, such as setting an alarm or informing some of your family or neighbors to wake you up at prayer time, and this is possible and not impossible. And success is from Allah, and may Allah send prayers and blessings upon our Prophet Muhammad and his family and companions.
Q: Given that my job is on shifts, and for example, during the night shift, I find it extremely difficult to wake up for the Zuhr prayer, as I work at the Riyadh airport doing hard labor all night as an aircraft mechanic. Work ends at seven in the morning, and I sleep at eight-thirty. My home is half an hour
from work. I set my alarm for the Zuhr prayer, but I struggle greatly to wake up, fighting to get up for an hour and a half every day, like this throughout the night shift, which lasts a month and a half. I suffer from heavy sleep. We tried to ask our supervisors to change the working hours to accommodate the prayer times, but they said they could not, because the current time is the most suitable for scheduled flights. I have the same problem with the 'Asr shift, where I do not sleep except for two or three hours before the Fajr prayer, and often I do not wake up until after the dawn light has fully appeared. Is it permissible to combine the Zuhr and 'Asr prayers during the night shift ? Please give us a ruling, may Allah reward you with good.
A: It is obligatory for you to pray with the congregation of the Muslims, and you must fear Allah the Exalted and strive against your self in this, being keen to perform it in congregation; due to the generality of the saying of Allah the Exalted:
Indeed, prayer has been decreed upon the believers a decree of specified times.
إِنَّ الصَّلاَةَ كَانَتْ عَلَى الْمُؤْمِنِينَ كِتَابًا مَوْقُوتًاsleep before the prayer if there is ample time in the period, and you must exert the means that help you to wake up at prayer time, such as setting an alarm or informing some of your family or neighbors to wake you up at prayer time, and this is possible and not impossible. And success is from Allah, and may Allah send prayers and blessings upon our Prophet Muhammad and his family and companions.
Source
www.alifta.gov.sa
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.