The Criterion for Combining the Two Prayers Due to Severe Cold

Question:
He asks: Is there a criterion for combining the prayers due to severe cold? And if the people ask the imam to combine, what should he do? Especially if some of the elderly ask him, should he obey them or not?

Answer:
Allah, Exalted and Majestic, made the prayers obligatory at their specific times, established specific times for them, and commanded that they be performed at their times. This is the default: every prayer is performed in its time. Allah the Exalted said: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) clarified these times, their beginning and end, as detailed in the hadiths of the Prophetic Sunnah and in the books of Islamic jurisprudence.
However, sometimes circumstances arise that make it easier for the Muslim to combine the two prayers in the time of one of them, either by advancing the later prayer or delaying the earlier one. This is a dispensation from Allah, Glorified and Exalted; it is a dispensation from Allah, Glorified and Exalted, to facilitate matters for His servants. This applies in three cases. The first case is travel. In the type of travel where the prayer is shortened, one combines the two prayers, just as the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) combined the Dhuhr and Asr prayers at 'Arafah, and combined the Maghrib and Isha' prayers at Muzdalifah. If shortening the prayer is permissible, then combining the two prayers is permissible. This is the first case.
The second case is rain. Rain that wets the clothes. As for light rain that does not wet the clothes, or rain that has stopped, one does not combine for that. One only combines if, when a person goes out and heads to the mosque, his clothes get ruined, or if there is mud and clay on the ground between him and the mosque. In such cases, one combines for the sake of the mud and clay, or for the falling of rain that wets the clothes.
The scholars mentioned a third issue: the severely cold night. If there is a severe cold wind, it is permissible to combine to ease the burden on the people. So, there are three cases for combining the Maghrib and Isha' prayers: travel, where one combines both Dhuhr and Asr and Maghrib and Isha'; and rain, mud, and severe cold wind, where one only combines Maghrib and Isha'. This is to facilitate matters for the servants.
The third case is illness. If a sick person is unable to pray every prayer in its time, he combines Maghrib and Isha' and Dhuhr and Asr, just like the traveler. The sick person is like the traveler. If it causes him hardship to pray every prayer in its time, it is not permissible for him to combine to ease his burden, because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) ordered the woman with irregular bleeding to combine the prayers, and irregular bleeding is a type of illness. So, it is permissible for the sick person to combine if he needs to combine. These are the conditions under which the prayers are combined. As for the common people saying to the imam, "Combine."
He should not obey them unless one of these conditions is present: rain falling that wets the clothes, mud and clay in the streets, or a severe cold wind. In these conditions, there is no harm in combining. But if they combine when none of these excuses exist, the most that might be present is light rain, or a fear of rain, or a degree of cold that does not permit combining. He must clarify these matters to them, explaining when combining is permissible and when it is not. Yes.

The presenter:
May Allah reward you.