The Ruling on Combining Prayers in the Rain and Combining the Afternoon Prayer with the Friday Prayer

The questioner : He says: We have observed the frequent combining of prayers in recent days, and people have been lax in this matter. You have issued rulings expressing that this is conditional on the presence of a valid excuse, namely severe cold. However, when it rains, is combining permissible or not? As many people do these days, considering that the streets are paved and the roads are lit at night, allowing everyone to reach the mosque without hardship. Please issue a ruling for us, may Allah reward you.

The Shaykh : This question is valid. It is that some people, may Allah protect us from that, have been negligent in combining prayers, so they combined them without a reason. Combining without a reason is greater than the major sins, meaning greater than adultery, theft, and drinking intoxicants, may Allah protect us from that. Why? Because it is a neglect of a pillar of Islam. For example, the afternoon prayer is one of the pillars of Islam. If one performs it before its time enters without a legal reason,
then it is not accepted from him, due to the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) meaning it is rejected from him. The one who prays the prayer before its time without a legal reason has done an act for which there is no command from Allah and His Messenger, so it is rejected from him. And it is astonishing that some people have cited the hadith of Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him and his father), which is in Sahih Muslim, where it is said that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) combined prayers in Makkah , and they said this was without fear or rain, meaning that rain is a reason for combining. The Companions found this strange and asked what he intended by this? Meaning, why did he combine? Ibn Abbas said he intended not to burden his Ummah, meaning not to cause them hardship if they left the congregation. This indicates that combining is not permissible unless there is hardship for people in leaving it.
And without hardship, it is not permissible, because Allah said and this time was defined by the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). He said the midday prayer is from the sun’s zenith until it becomes , and the afternoon prayer is from that time until the sun turns yellow, and the time of necessity is until sunset. The sunset prayer is from the setting of the sun until the twilight disappears, and the night prayer is from the disappearance of the twilight until the middle of the night, and the dawn prayer is from the appearance of dawn until the rising of the sun. The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) defined these times. So how do we transgress the limits of Allah? How do we combine one prayer with another without a reason?
And this is a great error and a great evil. And more reprehensible and astonishing than that is that some people combined the afternoon prayer with the Friday prayer. Glory be to Allah, worshipping Allah with the eyes? Leading the servants of Allah without right. Who said that the afternoon prayer is combined with the Friday prayer? Did the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) combine the afternoon prayer with the Friday prayer? Never.
The afternoon prayer is combined with the midday prayer if a reason exists, but with the Friday prayer, there is no report from the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) that he ever combined the afternoon prayer with the Friday prayer. And it is not correct to analogize the afternoon prayer in its combination with the Friday prayer to the afternoon prayer in its combination with the midday prayer, because the Friday prayer is an independent prayer with its own pillars and specific conditions. It is not of the same kind as the afternoon prayer. So it cannot be said that two prayers of the same kind are combined with each other like the midday and afternoon prayers. For this reason, the sunset prayer is not combined with the afternoon prayer. Why? Because they are not of the same kind. This is a daytime prayer, and this is a night prayer. This has three units, and this has four, or two. So it is absolutely not permissible, even if the sky is raining heavily, to combine the afternoon prayer with the Friday prayer. And whoever does that must repeat it as the afternoon prayer, because he did what is not permissible.
It remains to be said: if people prayed the sunset prayer without rain, and then it rained heavily afterwards, making it difficult for people to come to the mosque, we say: Praise be to Allah, the matter is broad. The caller calls out and says, "Pray in your places," meaning each person prays in his home. Because they are excused from leaving the congregation in this situation. Yes.