He was asked about the hadith of Ibn 'Abbas when he combined the prayers, and a man stood up and said to him, "Prayer, prayer," to which Ibn 'Abbas replied
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The questioner : Shaykh, regarding the combination of prayers while resident, the Hanafis, meaning they rejected this matter just as they rejected it while traveling. That is, when Ibn 'Abbas prayed in Madinah or in Iraq, he combined the prayers, delaying the Zuhr and advancing the 'Asr, so they also rejected this from this logic, even while resident.
The Shaykh : And where is this?
The questioner : The Hanafis...
The Shaykh : Where, where is this hadith that you are mentioning where Ibn 'Abbas did such and such?
The questioner : The hadith mentions that Ibn 'Abbas prayed in Madinah, delaying the Zuhr and advancing the 'Asr, so a man stood up and said: "Prayer, prayer," and he said "May your mother be bereaved of you, am I teaching you the Sunnah"
The Shaykh : I am asking, do you mean that in this hadith there is the apparent combination?
The questioner : I tell you, yes, they do.
The Shaykh : Tell me, tell me.
The questioner : Yes, yes.
The Shaykh : The apparent combination.
The questioner : Yes
The Shaykh : This does not establish the apparent combination.
The questioner : I said it this way, they also imagine, Abu Malik, Professor Abu Malik.
Another questioner: Hehehe.
The questioner : Meaning, it seems he adopted this opinion, I do not know, and today there was a report on this matter.
The Shaykh : What was the report?
The questioner : On this matter...
The Shaykh : I did not hear him speak on the topic.
The questioner : In *Irsad al-Sari*, he mentioned something of this speech.
The Shaykh : The important point is that the hadith of Ibn 'Abbas does not explicitly state the apparent combination. And the truth is, I am saying this now frankly, I have not said it before, that the apparent combination is an innovation of the Hanafis, because there is no explicit statement in the Shari'ah, in any hadith, of the apparent combination at all. But I said earlier, and the tape is with you, and I hope you preserve this statement I made before the answer: The Hanafis did not say the apparent combination except as an attempt to reconcile the hadiths of combination that did not explicitly state the real combination, and that did not explicitly state that the combination was a combination of advancing, but rather that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) combined the Zuhr and the 'Asr. So their attempt to reconcile the verse[An-Nisa 4:103] with the hadiths of combination, they brought this interpretation. And we agree with them that a scholar is sometimes compelled to interpretation to reconcile two texts whose apparent meanings conflict and contradict. But if there is not what suffices the burden of interpretation, as I told you earlier, the hadith from Anas states that when the Messenger (peace be upon him) combined, he delayed the Zuhr prayer until the beginning of the 'Asr prayer time. This invalidates the apparent combination. And there is no hadith in the world that says he delayed the Zuhr prayer until before the time of 'Asr, until before. But that he combined it to the beginning of the 'Asr time, this exists in Sahih Muslim as we mentioned. So this hadith of Ibn 'Abbas states the combination but does not specify the type of combination.
The questioner : Yes
The Shaykh : So the hadith of Ibn 'Abbas that you mentioned first is a different hadith from ours. The hadith you mentioned is in Sahih al-Bukhari, and it is not about Zuhr and 'Asr, but about Maghrib and 'Isha, do you see? So he was delivering the sermon until the stars appeared, and someone reminded him, I said that he said to him, "Prayer, prayer," and he rebuked him with that phrase, "Am I teaching you the prayer?" The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) combined, and he mentioned the hadith without the addition that is in Sahih Muslim. He was asked what he intended by that, and he said he intended not to burden his Ummah. There, in your hadith, and not in mine, one of the narrators is Abu al-Shu'tha.
The questioner : Yes
The Shaykh : One of them said to him, I see that this combination is as you mentioned, and he said to him, and I see that too. So there is no text from Ibn 'Abbas that the combination is an apparent combination, this is the summary of what is said. Then this combination, if it occurs, occurs due to circumstances, it is not prescribed that this combination must happen. Meaning, the adhan was called for the Maghrib prayer and Ibn 'Abbas was delivering the sermon, and he found that the gathering was assembled and listening, so he did not want to cut off this discussion and this knowledge in order to hasten to perform the Maghrib prayer at its first time and before the stars intermingle as is known in the Sunnah. He wanted to finish the lecture or the sermon he was delivering. If the sermon ended before the 'Isha prayer, he prayed the Maghrib. If the sermon ended after the 'Isha prayer, he prayed the Maghrib. I want from this speech that it not be imposed on him that if you want to combine, you must intentionally delay the first prayer until before the time of the other enters. This, as we said, is difficult. So the combination is to solve a problem, so if this combination requires advancing, we advance; if it requires delaying, we actually delay; if it requires delaying until before the time of the other, there is no objection. But to impose that as a requirement on the Muslim, this does not exist in what we know in the Sunnah that obligates us to do so.
The Shaykh : And where is this?
The questioner : The Hanafis...
The Shaykh : Where, where is this hadith that you are mentioning where Ibn 'Abbas did such and such?
The questioner : The hadith mentions that Ibn 'Abbas prayed in Madinah, delaying the Zuhr and advancing the 'Asr, so a man stood up and said: "Prayer, prayer," and he said "May your mother be bereaved of you, am I teaching you the Sunnah"
The Shaykh : I am asking, do you mean that in this hadith there is the apparent combination?
The questioner : I tell you, yes, they do.
The Shaykh : Tell me, tell me.
The questioner : Yes, yes.
The Shaykh : The apparent combination.
The questioner : Yes
The Shaykh : This does not establish the apparent combination.
The questioner : I said it this way, they also imagine, Abu Malik, Professor Abu Malik.
Another questioner: Hehehe.
The questioner : Meaning, it seems he adopted this opinion, I do not know, and today there was a report on this matter.
The Shaykh : What was the report?
The questioner : On this matter...
The Shaykh : I did not hear him speak on the topic.
The questioner : In *Irsad al-Sari*, he mentioned something of this speech.
The Shaykh : The important point is that the hadith of Ibn 'Abbas does not explicitly state the apparent combination. And the truth is, I am saying this now frankly, I have not said it before, that the apparent combination is an innovation of the Hanafis, because there is no explicit statement in the Shari'ah, in any hadith, of the apparent combination at all. But I said earlier, and the tape is with you, and I hope you preserve this statement I made before the answer: The Hanafis did not say the apparent combination except as an attempt to reconcile the hadiths of combination that did not explicitly state the real combination, and that did not explicitly state that the combination was a combination of advancing, but rather that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) combined the Zuhr and the 'Asr. So their attempt to reconcile the verse
Indeed, prayer has been decreed upon the believers a decree of specified times.
إن الصلاة كانت على المؤمنين كتابا موقوتاThe questioner : Yes
The Shaykh : So the hadith of Ibn 'Abbas that you mentioned first is a different hadith from ours. The hadith you mentioned is in Sahih al-Bukhari, and it is not about Zuhr and 'Asr, but about Maghrib and 'Isha, do you see? So he was delivering the sermon until the stars appeared, and someone reminded him, I said that he said to him, "Prayer, prayer," and he rebuked him with that phrase, "Am I teaching you the prayer?" The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) combined, and he mentioned the hadith without the addition that is in Sahih Muslim. He was asked what he intended by that, and he said he intended not to burden his Ummah. There, in your hadith, and not in mine, one of the narrators is Abu al-Shu'tha.
The questioner : Yes
The Shaykh : One of them said to him, I see that this combination is as you mentioned, and he said to him, and I see that too. So there is no text from Ibn 'Abbas that the combination is an apparent combination, this is the summary of what is said. Then this combination, if it occurs, occurs due to circumstances, it is not prescribed that this combination must happen. Meaning, the adhan was called for the Maghrib prayer and Ibn 'Abbas was delivering the sermon, and he found that the gathering was assembled and listening, so he did not want to cut off this discussion and this knowledge in order to hasten to perform the Maghrib prayer at its first time and before the stars intermingle as is known in the Sunnah. He wanted to finish the lecture or the sermon he was delivering. If the sermon ended before the 'Isha prayer, he prayed the Maghrib. If the sermon ended after the 'Isha prayer, he prayed the Maghrib. I want from this speech that it not be imposed on him that if you want to combine, you must intentionally delay the first prayer until before the time of the other enters. This, as we said, is difficult. So the combination is to solve a problem, so if this combination requires advancing, we advance; if it requires delaying, we actually delay; if it requires delaying until before the time of the other, there is no objection. But to impose that as a requirement on the Muslim, this does not exist in what we know in the Sunnah that obligates us to do so.