Is combining the Dhuhr and Asr prayers, and the Maghrib and Isha prayers, a formal combination or a real combination?

The questioner : Regarding this, a discussion took place between me andThe Shaykh : Is there a time interval between the Maghrib prayer and the Isha prayer, like there is between the Fajr and Dhuhr prayers, or between the Isha and Fajr prayers? Or is there no interval there because...?

The Shaykh : The question is not clear. First, you mentioned combining, then you ask if there is an interval and you compare them.
Abu Malik: I am telling you, our Shaykh, what he means is that some jurists say that just as there are two dawns, the true dawn and the false dawn, and there is an interval between the two dawns that must be known for the true dawn to enter, so it is the same with Isha and Maghrib. May Allah guide me, I do not know this. He says this is al-Shawkani's view.

The Shaykh : Let us listen to him. Is that what you mean? Tell me, do you mean this? Say yes or say no? I do not understand this speech.

The questioner : What I read is that there is an interval.

The Shaykh : O Shaykh, may Allah guide you, be patient. Did you hear what he said?The Shaykh : ؟

The questioner : Yes.

The Shaykh : I understood his speech but I did not understand your speech. Be patient, O Shaykh, may Allah guide you. I understood his speech but I did not understand yours. So, are you like me in that you understood his speech?

The questioner : Yes, I understood his speech.

The Shaykh : Okay, be patient. Is this the discussion that took place between you and him?

The questioner : No, the discussion that took place is a branch; this is not the discussion that took place.

The Shaykh : This branch, was this branch raised between you and him?

The questioner : It was raised, yes.

The Shaykh : Did you reach an agreement with him?

The questioner : No, the time ran out. It was the time of our entry, me and...The Shaykh : .

The Shaykh : My brother, I am not asking you why. The important thing is, did you reach an agreement with him or not?

The questioner : The discussion was not completed.
Abu Malik: Please allow me, I have an appointment with the doctor.

The Shaykh : Good, if Allah wills. We wish you success. You see, he is eager. Explain to me what the point was that took place between you and Abu Malik, and then you did not reach an agreement?

The questioner : The time ended because it was...

The Shaykh : Excuse me, I made a mistake. What is the issue?

The questioner : The issue is that I told him, "I combined the Dhuhr and Asr prayers," and he said that it is not permissible to combine the Dhuhr and Asr prayers except for a formal combination only.

The Shaykh : He said that? May Allah guide you, if you had said this speech in his presence.

The questioner : His evidence is the narration of Ibn Abbas, where he argued that he delayed the Maghrib.

The Shaykh : O Shaykh, may Allah guide you. You started the topic with whether there is an interval or not. Start with what you just started.

The questioner : Regarding the Maghrib and Isha prayers, is there an interval between them, or does the time of Isha enter immediately when the time of Maghrib ends, or is there an interval?

The Shaykh : Are you asking one question now or two?

The questioner : One question.

The Shaykh : I see there are two questions.

The questioner : No, regarding the first one.

The Shaykh : If there is a first, there is a second, so...

The questioner : I mean, my point is, does the time of Maghrib end simply when the time of Maghrib ends?

The Shaykh : O Shaykh, you have not finished the first question. What is the first question?

The questioner : I did not ask the first question; rather, I informed him of a case where he said to me...

The Shaykh : Except for a formal combination.

The questioner : On the basis that he took me out of the mosque. I made an appointment with him, and he took me out of the mosque to come here. I will tell you the story. What was the reason? I said to him, "I combined the Dhuhr and Asr prayers," and he said to me, "Combining the Dhuhr and Asr prayers is not permissible except in cases such as delaying or advancing, like in Mina, or if travel becomes difficult for him." He elaborated in this chapter, may Allah reward him well, and he benefited me.

The Shaykh : What do you want from me now?

The questioner : The discussion ended with...

The Shaykh : I am not asking you what the discussion ended with. What do you want from me?

The questioner : Does the time of Maghrib end and the time of Isha enter when the time of Maghrib ends?

The Shaykh : And what concerns combining, you do not need me for that.

The questioner : He thinks you agree with Abu Malik. He said that you agree with him.

The Shaykh : I am afraid of this and more, so I am going around in circles, and he keeps asking if there is an interval between the time of Maghrib and Isha, and he does not return to the topic of combining.

The questioner : Okay. Is combining the Maghrib and Isha prayers a combination of advancing, or is combining the Dhuhr and Asr prayers for a traveler a combination of advancing? Is it permissible?

The Shaykh : Yes, it is permissible. And there are explicit and authentic hadiths that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) used to combine in travel with a real combination in "Sahih Muslim." Why did I tell you that you wasted the benefit on us? Why did you not ask me the question in his presence? There is in "Sahih Muslim" from the hadith of Anas: "The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), when he traveled, would combine the Dhuhr and Asr, delaying the Dhuhr until the beginning of the time of Asr." Is this formal or real? It is real. This is in "Sahih Muslim." Is it clear?

The questioner : It is clear.

The Shaykh : And there are in other books that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him)... and so that you memorize from these other books, "Muwatta" of Imam Malik—just do with your beard as I do with my beard, okay, yes, like this—and there is in "Muwatta" of Imam Malik from the hadith of Mu'adh ibn Jabal: "The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), when he arrived at a lodging place and the time of Dhuhr came, ordered the adhan and iqamah, then prayed and combined in the time of Dhuhr." What is this combination called? Advancing. Then he entered the hadith and said: "He went out and called the adhan and iqamah and prayed, then entered. Then when the time of Maghrib came, he also went out and combined between Maghrib and Isha."
The Shaykh: The summary is that the real combination is not limited to 'Arafah or Muzdalifah, but rather it is prescribed in travel with explicit texts. And I will add to the benefit: this combination is also prescribed in the state of residence, with the condition of removing hardship. For example, a sick person, with any illness, for whom it is difficult to perform wudu for every prayer and pray every prayer in its time, is given the choice to combine Asr with Dhuhr and pray a combination of advancing, or to delay. A woman with irregular bleeding, for example, who lives in a state of irregular bleeding, for whom it is difficult, especially if she wants to perform ghusl for every prayer, it is permissible for her to combine, whether it is a combination of advancing or delaying. A man, for example, who is an employee in a job where it is not easy to maintain performing the prayers in their times, so he either delays them from their time, which is not permissible at all, or he combines them with their sister prayer. Here, he combines to remove hardship, based on the hadith of Ibn Abbas, which Imam Muslim narrated in his "Sahih." He said: "The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) combined in Madinah between the Dhuhr and Asr, and between the Maghrib and Isha. They said, 'What did he intend by that, O Abu al-'Abbas?' He said, 'He intended not to burden his Ummah.'" Some scholars, both past and present, take from this hadith the permissibility of combining in residence absolutely. And we see this as an error. From where do they take the absolute permissibility of combining? They say because he combined in Madinah, and in the hadith it says "without travel or rain."

The questioner : The Shi'ah say with this combination.

The Shaykh : The Shi'ah took it as a rule. As the Syrian proverb says, "To spite the purity, he spit in his clothes." These Shi'ah, to spite the people of the Sunnah, do not have a separation between the Dhuhr and Asr. That is, they do not pray Asr in its time at all, but rather they combine to spite whom? The people of the Sunnah. But what I meant by the people of the Sunnah is that they take from this hadith of Ibn Abbas the permissibility of combining without necessity, without removing hardship. They take from the hadith the larger part of its wording: "That the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) combined in Madinah without travel or rain." So, is it permissible to combine in the state of residence without travel or rain? We say no, because the hadith has a continuation. It was said to the narrator of the hadith, Ibn Abbas, "What did he intend by that?" He said, "He intended not to burden his Ummah." So, where there is hardship, combining is permissible. Where there is no hardship, Do you understand how? This is contrary to the Shi'ah. The Shi'ah nullified the five times and made them three times. The people of the Sunnah did not preserve these five prayers, but they took the dispensations. For example, 'Arafah, in Muzdalifah, this is by the consensus of the people of the Sunnah. In travel, there is disagreement. The Hanafis do not permit combining in travel at all, and this is contrary to the correct Sunnah, as I mentioned to you just now. Combining in the state of residence, they do not allow it at all. Some of the Salaf, like Ibn Sirin and others, say, arguing from the hadith of Ibn Abbas, that combining is permissible as a dispensation, not a necessity. We say, the answer of Ibn Abbas, "He intended not to burden his Ummah," so, to remove hardship, combining is permissible. Otherwise, one should maintain the times. Now I have answered you about the issue of...

The questioner : Regarding combining prayers at 'Arafah and Muzdalifah... [due to] cars and the fact that walking is not good. Some of them advance the Maghrib and 'Isha' prayers and do not delay them, fearing that the dawn will not break while they are still walking.

The Shaykh : If it is for this reason, it is permissible.

The questioner : The issue of movement, meaning the action of Ibn 'Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him).

The Shaykh : We want him to put a point on the research. Do you know what the hadith point is? You don't know?

The questioner : The empty circle.

The Shaykh : Yes, it seems you heard it, but he definitely doesn't know. The hadith scholars, when they copied a book containing hadiths—of course, a hadith has a chain and a text—would place a small circle at the end of the hadith, similar to the circles found in some mushafs now, where they put the verse number. Okay, they would draw a simple circle. Then they had something called "muqabalah." I don't like this mixing. They had "muqabalah." What does "muqabalah" mean? Comparing the branch with the original from which it was copied. It is permissible for an error to occur, and we see this in many manuscripts. So, after the "muqabalah," when they finish every hadith, they put a dot in every circle. Do you know what it means? It means the copy is finished and its correction is complete. So we say, when we are in a research, we need to know if this research is finished or not. We say we must place a circle with a dot in the middle. So I say to our brother Abu 'Abd al-Rahman, is the previous research finished or not? So that he does not enter the topic. Did you see how it is? It is still remaining. The time for this dot has come.
Yes.