The Meaning of Ibn 'Abbas's Hadith on Combining the Two Prayers Without an Excuse

Question:
This questioner says: Ibn 'Abbas narrated that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) combined the prayers without an excuse or travel, seven times. And Muslim narrated that Ibn 'Abbas was delivering the sermon to the people, so he delayed the Maghrib prayer to be combined with the 'Isha' prayer. One of the attendees spoke, so he repeated that, and Ibn 'Abbas replied, saying: "That was done by one who is better than me." Then a group went and asked Abu Hurayrah, and he said: "Ibn 'Abbas hit the mark." We hope our Shaykh will clarify this.

Answer:
The default is that every prayer is performed in its time. This is what the majority of the evidence from the Book and the Sunnah indicates. Allah the Exalted said: And the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: This is the default, and it is what the majority of the evidence indicates. It is not permissible to combine the prayers except in one of three cases. The first case is travel in which the prayer is shortened. The second case is illness. The sick person may combine if he needs to combine. The third case is rain that wets the clothes between Maghrib and 'Isha'.
As for this hadith of Ibn 'Abbas, this hadith is authentic, but it is among the ambiguous narrations. What is established by the evidence regarding the preservation of the prayer times is not abandoned for the sake of a doubtful hadith. This is the position of the majority of the scholars. So there is no acting upon this hadith except that it is understood, as the scholars said, as referring to one of the three cases. As for combining without travel, without rain, and without illness, this is not known to many of the scholars. And a person does not follow the anomalous narrations, take them, and spread them to the people, causing confusion among the people. Yes.

The presenter:
May Allah reward you,