The Criterion of Difficulty in Combining the Two Prayers Due to Rain

The questioner:
We are a group of mosque imams, and we are presenting this problem to your eminence, which is the issue of combining prayers in the rain. When some rain falls, we exert our judgment and combine the prayers, because there is difficulty in the view of the mosque imam. However, some of the youth go to one of the scholars and inform him of the situation, and he says that this combining is not valid, which causes confusion among the worshippers. We ask your eminence to clarify the criterion of difficulty that justifies combining in the rain, and whether the ground must be slippery, and who is considered regarding the difficulty: are they the elderly and those similar to them, or the majority of the congregation? We ask for clarification of this, may Allah grant you success.

The Shaykh:
What is like the rain that revives the dead? Some of those who are in a hurry, if they see the rain, they leave, or if they see a light drizzle, that is not permissible. The intended rain is that which wets the clothes. It is said to the hunter when they go out. A method of sitting for a long time, as for those who walk and the rain is light, this does not harm and does not change the car, or if there is a long dry stretch on the ground between it and the people, it becomes muddy and dirty. If there is no rain at the time of going out, is the presence of mud and clay sufficient? Or a very cold wind.

The questioner:
A rain that falls and the face of the elderly is between it and the mosque. That is enough. The rain. It is necessary, it is necessary. Its traces are in the ground, the ground has a sea or has water channels, and on the sunny day the water gathers and becomes large channels, the people are in the middle

The Shaykh:
An appointment, this is also an excuse. The third excuse is if one prays in the rain, even if there is no war, and there is not. There is a very cold wind in a dark night, meaning a cold and strong wind and in a dark night. In these three matters, it is permissible to combine the Maghrib prayer and the 'Isha' prayer, either combining them by bringing them forward for the sake of the people's comfort, or combining them by delaying them if that is easier for them.
As for the mere presence of rain, or a drizzle, or rain and wind where there is no sea, the rain opens and the ground has no sea, the ground is paved and the rain has stopped, or the rain has not wetted it, or it is paved, and there are no channels, and there is no mud, then combining is not permissible. Allah, Mighty and Majestic, says: , so it is necessary to perform them in their times except for a Shari'ah excuse for combining. So this one must fear Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He. As for the consideration of the congregation, the one who is considered is the one for whom it is difficult to attend, even if they are few, an elderly person, or a sick person, or a blind person, or a person for whom it is difficult to attend. One should consider the brothers who are in need, even if they are few, and the rest follow them. Excellent, and Allah the Exalted knows best, and may Allah send prayers and peace upon our Prophet Muhammad and upon his family and his companions.