Is combining prayers for the sake of rain, clouds, and severe cold a rational matter aimed at removing hardship, or is it a devotional act?

The questioner : I said: The hadith mentions hardship so that he does not burden his Ummah. Does the imam have the right to combine prayers in the rain? Is it a condition that the rain be falling, or does he have the right to combine when the rain is falling, or when rain is expected, or in severe cold, or when the clouds are thick?

The Shaykh : Answer: There are causes in the Shari'ah that are explicitly stated and do not require much opinion or consideration, as we mentioned earlier: travel, travel, rain, rain. As for fog or clouds, no text has come at all regarding them. In that case, we stop at the word "hardship." You mentioned earlier severe cold. Personally, I see that severe cold, even though we have no text for it as I said earlier—we have no text except for travel and rain—but he wanted not to burden his Ummah, so he expands this circle. However, this circle requires its application to be done well, which requires two things: first, beneficial knowledge, and second, righteous action, which is the result of the fear of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) and avoiding one's desires. The summary of these conditions is that if combining is done in the mosque for something like severe cold, it is the imam who adopts this, not any individual among those following the imam. So, if the imam combines, the followers combine with him. If he does not combine, it is not permissible for the others to combine. This is if it is in the mosque and there is an imam. But there are circumstances concerning individuals. An individual has a specific circumstance, so he fears Allah (Mighty and Majestic) and looks correctly at whether there is hardship for him if he performs every prayer in its time. If there is hardship, with the consultation of his believing heart, where hardship is found, combining is found.
And two things are a grave error. The first is that the hadith of Ibn Abbas is understood without the question and the answer . It is an error to understand the combining mentioned in the hadith without looking at the question and the answer, from which it is summarized that the combining performed by the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) was only for the removal of hardship. Is that clear? Good. So, if a Muslim falls into hardship if he does not perform every prayer in its time, he combines between them according to what the hardship he wants to escape requires, either combining by bringing forward or combining by delaying. And this is what we benefit from this hadith to solve some problems that occur for some employees, such as soldiers, for example, or police officers or the like, who may not be able to perform every prayer in its time. In that case, it is said to them: if you find hardship in performing the prayer in its time, combine between them, either combining by bringing forward or combining by delaying. This is the first thing.
The other thing regarding combining in the mosque is that it should not become chaos in the mosque, with some people wanting to combine and some not wanting to combine. So why was this imam appointed to be followed? It is true, unfortunately, that many imams, especially in this time, are not qualified to be imams because they do not have the jurisprudence and knowledge that qualifies them to be an imam of a mosque. So he may combine for the most trivial reasons, and he may not combine even when the reason exists, because he has no knowledge. Nevertheless, he should be followed, negatively or positively, to prevent this chaos. This is also what I wanted to remind you of.