Ruling on combining prayers for one who intends to travel but is still in his town
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Your Eminence! If I intend to travel to the Prophet’s city, and before I travel the midday prayer becomes obligatory, is it permissible for me to pray the afternoon prayer with the midday prayer?
If you are in your town, it is not permissible; it is not permissible to combine unless you have begun the journey. And if you fear that you will not be able to pray the afternoon prayer easily, such as: if you are traveling with someone and you fear he will not stop when the time for the afternoon prayer arrives, or if you are on a plane and you do not know whether you will reach the afternoon prayer in the country you are heading to or not, then there is no harm. However, if your travel is in your own car which is at your disposal, and you can stop and pray whenever you wish, then do not combine; because combining is like shortening, just as you do not shorten in your town, you do not combine either. But if a person fears that he will not be able to perform the second prayer, then he may combine.
If you are in your town, it is not permissible; it is not permissible to combine unless you have begun the journey. And if you fear that you will not be able to pray the afternoon prayer easily, such as: if you are traveling with someone and you fear he will not stop when the time for the afternoon prayer arrives, or if you are on a plane and you do not know whether you will reach the afternoon prayer in the country you are heading to or not, then there is no harm. However, if your travel is in your own car which is at your disposal, and you can stop and pray whenever you wish, then do not combine; because combining is like shortening, just as you do not shorten in your town, you do not combine either. But if a person fears that he will not be able to perform the second prayer, then he may combine.