Ruling on combining the Maghrib and 'Isha' prayers due to traffic congestion
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
The questioner says: We are in a country that is very crowded with cars, and we cannot cover a distance of five kilometers in less than about half an hour. If we leave after the 'Asr prayer due to compelling circumstances, we may not be able to return for the Maghrib prayer because of the heavy traffic and the large number of cars. Is it permissible for us to combine it with the 'Isha' prayer? We want an answer regarding this.
Answer:
No, it is not permissible; because you are in a settled area, you are not travelers, and this is not among the excuses that permit combining, which are travel, illness, or rain. And you do not know when this will end, and it is not something that can be separated from, like traffic, and you get out of it. So delay the prayer until you get out of the traffic, then you pray the Maghrib. Yes.
The presenter:
May Allah reward you
The questioner says: We are in a country that is very crowded with cars, and we cannot cover a distance of five kilometers in less than about half an hour. If we leave after the 'Asr prayer due to compelling circumstances, we may not be able to return for the Maghrib prayer because of the heavy traffic and the large number of cars. Is it permissible for us to combine it with the 'Isha' prayer? We want an answer regarding this.
Answer:
No, it is not permissible; because you are in a settled area, you are not travelers, and this is not among the excuses that permit combining, which are travel, illness, or rain. And you do not know when this will end, and it is not something that can be separated from, like traffic, and you get out of it. So delay the prayer until you get out of the traffic, then you pray the Maghrib. Yes.
The presenter:
May Allah reward you
Source
نور على الدرب - الفوزان - 02/279 — archive.org (2:42)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.