The ruling on the imam combining the Zuhr and 'Asr prayers due to rain
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner:
He says: Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success, we prayed some time ago while it was raining in the city of Riyadh, and the imam combined the Zuhr and 'Asr prayers with us because of the rain. Do we owe anything for that? And what is our position regarding this imam's action?
The Shaykh:
Repeat the question.
The questioner:
He says: We prayed some time ago while it was raining in the city of Riyadh, so the imam combined the Zuhr and 'Asr prayers with us because of the rain. Do we owe anything? And what is our position toward this imam's action?
The Shaykh:
The ruling issued, and the position of the school of jurisprudence, is that combining prayers in a settled location is specific to the Maghrib and 'Isha' prayers. There are those who issue a ruling permitting the combination of Zuhr and 'Asr, such as the Shaykh and Imam, 'Abd al-'Aziz ibn Baz (may Allah have mercy on him), who also issues a ruling permitting the combination of Zuhr and 'Asr. So as long as this imam has adopted this opinion, the prayer is valid, if Allah wills. The prayer is valid, if Allah wills. However, one should take care to consider what the people of the town are accustomed to, and not disturb them with opinions that contradict what the people of the town are accustomed to. If the people of the town are acting on an opinion that has evidence, do not contradict them and disturb them.
If you are praying in congregation, that is one matter. But if you are praying for yourself, be careful; it is between you and Allah. Combine them, do what you wish, it is between you and Allah. But if you burden the congregation with this, that is problematic. That is problematic, and it causes disturbance. A person is not obligated to do this. Yes.
He says: Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success, we prayed some time ago while it was raining in the city of Riyadh, and the imam combined the Zuhr and 'Asr prayers with us because of the rain. Do we owe anything for that? And what is our position regarding this imam's action?
The Shaykh:
Repeat the question.
The questioner:
He says: We prayed some time ago while it was raining in the city of Riyadh, so the imam combined the Zuhr and 'Asr prayers with us because of the rain. Do we owe anything? And what is our position toward this imam's action?
The Shaykh:
The ruling issued, and the position of the school of jurisprudence, is that combining prayers in a settled location is specific to the Maghrib and 'Isha' prayers. There are those who issue a ruling permitting the combination of Zuhr and 'Asr, such as the Shaykh and Imam, 'Abd al-'Aziz ibn Baz (may Allah have mercy on him), who also issues a ruling permitting the combination of Zuhr and 'Asr. So as long as this imam has adopted this opinion, the prayer is valid, if Allah wills. The prayer is valid, if Allah wills. However, one should take care to consider what the people of the town are accustomed to, and not disturb them with opinions that contradict what the people of the town are accustomed to. If the people of the town are acting on an opinion that has evidence, do not contradict them and disturb them.
If you are praying in congregation, that is one matter. But if you are praying for yourself, be careful; it is between you and Allah. Combine them, do what you wish, it is between you and Allah. But if you burden the congregation with this, that is problematic. That is problematic, and it causes disturbance. A person is not obligated to do this. Yes.
Source
المنتقى من أخبار سيد المرسلين [26] — alfawzan.live (48:24)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.