What is the guidance regarding the hadith of Ibn 'Abbas (The Messenger combined the two prayers in Makkah without fear or travel)?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner:
(peace and blessings be upon him). The hadith of Ibn 'Abbas in Sahih Muslim has been confusing to me, in that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) combined the two prayers in Makkah without fear or travel, and then he said he intended not to cause hardship for anyone of his Ummah,
The Shaykh:
not cause hardship.
The questioner:
And he said he intended not to cause hardship for anyone of his Ummah.
The Shaykh:
This hadith is problematic. Praying the prayers at their appointed times is clear and decisive; we pray the prayers at their times, each prayer in its time. This is clear from the evidence, and there is no ambiguity in it. As for this hadith, it is general and problematic. Some scholars said it is to be understood as being due to rain, without fear or illness; only the rain remained, so he combined the Maghrib and 'Isha' prayers for the sake of the rain. Others said the intended meaning is apparent combining, because he delays the first prayer to the end of its time and brings the second prayer forward to the beginning of its time, and prays them together. This is apparent combining, not actual combining. But the clearest and most apparent view is that this hadith is among the problematic ones, so we suspend acting upon it and act upon the clear matter in which there is no ambiguity. Yes.
(peace and blessings be upon him). The hadith of Ibn 'Abbas in Sahih Muslim has been confusing to me, in that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) combined the two prayers in Makkah without fear or travel, and then he said he intended not to cause hardship for anyone of his Ummah,
The Shaykh:
not cause hardship.
The questioner:
And he said he intended not to cause hardship for anyone of his Ummah.
The Shaykh:
This hadith is problematic. Praying the prayers at their appointed times is clear and decisive; we pray the prayers at their times, each prayer in its time. This is clear from the evidence, and there is no ambiguity in it. As for this hadith, it is general and problematic. Some scholars said it is to be understood as being due to rain, without fear or illness; only the rain remained, so he combined the Maghrib and 'Isha' prayers for the sake of the rain. Others said the intended meaning is apparent combining, because he delays the first prayer to the end of its time and brings the second prayer forward to the beginning of its time, and prays them together. This is apparent combining, not actual combining. But the clearest and most apparent view is that this hadith is among the problematic ones, so we suspend acting upon it and act upon the clear matter in which there is no ambiguity. Yes.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، [2007- 4717] ما توجيه حديث ابن عباس (جمع الرسول بين الصلاتين في المدينة من غير خوف ولا سفر)؟ — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.