If one prays the prayer at the end of its time, do we say that he has taken it out of its time?

The questioner : Why not act according to the verse?

The Shaykh : How?

The questioner This is delaying it from its time until the last moment, until the very end of the time.

The Shaykh : Now, what is the time for the midday prayer if you were asked, for example? You are mistaken about this. The time for the midday prayer is from the sun passing its zenith until the beginning of the time for the afternoon prayer.

The questioner : So, Shaykh, does the time remain?

The Shaykh : This time is extended, of course. But the truth is that every time for the five prayers is divided into a time of excellence and a time of permissibility, and perhaps some of these times have a third division, which is the time of dire necessity. For example, the time for the afternoon prayer at its beginning is the best time. If you delay it by half an hour or an hour, that is the time of permissibility. If you delay it until just before the sun sets, that is the time of dire necessity. The midday prayer has only two times: the time of excellence and the time of permissibility. So if a man prays the midday prayer a few minutes before the afternoon prayer, or finishes his midday prayer and the call to prayer for the afternoon is made immediately after, he has prayed the midday prayer in its time and is not in violation of the previous verse .
Those who said that the apparent combination is what is meant, their desire to perform the prayers in their times is what led them to interpret the combination mentioned in the authentic hadiths as this apparent, formal combination, and they denied the actual combination. It could have been said that such an interpretation of the combination as the apparent combination is excusable for them, were it not for two things that stand in the way of this combination. The first thing, regarding what they called the apparent combination, which is delaying the time of the first prayer until just before the time of the second, is refuted by a hadith in Sahih Muslim from the narration of Anas ibn Malik (may Allah be pleased with him), who said: This invalidates the apparent combination. This is an actual combination because he delayed the midday prayer—and peace and mercy of Allah be upon you—until the time for the afternoon prayer had entered, but he did not delay it much. He prayed the midday prayer at the beginning of the time for the afternoon prayer. This is the first thing that refutes those who say the apparent combination. So this interpretation remains invalid, and it is not permissible to adopt it because it contradicts the authentic hadith of Anas.
The other thing, which is very important, is that there is a combination called the combination of advancing, and this cannot be interpreted as the apparent combination because this means the opposite of the hadith of Anas. In other words, the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) prayed the midday prayer in its time, then advanced the afternoon prayer to the time of the midday prayer, so he combined them in the time of the midday prayer. This is called the combination of advancing. So where does the claim of the apparent combination stand? There is no doubt that one who has been informed of these texts is not permitted to nullify these texts for the sake of a statement made by someone who is excusable, who stopped at the first hadiths that combined the midday and afternoon prayers without detailing whether the combination is delaying the time of the first to the time of the second, as we mentioned in the hadith of Anas, or whether it is a combination of delaying. They are excusable. But once a student of knowledge, let alone a scholar, has examined them, it is not permissible for him to say anything other than the actual combination. This is regarding the combination while traveling. And I remember clearly, by the grace of Allah, that the question was about the combination while resident.

The questioner : Yes, exactly.

The Shaykh : The combination while resident is established in the Sunnah and in the practice of the people of Madinah, who inherited the practical Sunnahs from the Companions of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) and their followers. They used to combine because of the falling of rain. And the combination because of the falling of rain cannot be imagined to be an apparent combination. This is impossible. It cannot be imagined to be a combination of delaying at all, but rather it is a combination of advancing due to the cause.

The questioner : Shaykh, if you could repeat this hadith for us one more time, this statement.

The Shaykh : And upon you be peace and the mercy of Allah and His blessings. You are a bit confused today, aren't you? Hehe.

Another questioner : By Allah, I mean, it needs it, it needs it. Then, I, glory be to Allah, do not like this heavy cloak...

The Shaykh : Or any heavy one, I mean, you like it, hehehe.

Another questioner : This Al-A'mash has a nice joke. They mentioned to him that if there is something heavy on your left and you are in prayer, he said, the first closing salam is enough for you.

The Shaykh : Hehehe, yes, indeed.

Another questioner : We, praise be to Allah, have the Shaykh on our right. And on our left is Abu Abdullah.

The Shaykh : Hehe, so we were talking. Are you ready?
Abu Layla: Yes, Shaykh.

The Shaykh : Regarding the apparent and actual combination and the schools of thought, and the summary of what has passed is that the Hanafis say the apparent combination in travel and the actual combination at 'Arafah and at Muzdalifah. We mentioned that their inclination to the opinion of the apparent combination in travel is invalidated by authentic hadiths, some of which explicitly state that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) when he combined the midday and afternoon prayers, delayed the midday prayer to the beginning of the time for the afternoon prayer. And the hadith reached us that it also invalidates their claim of the apparent combination in travel, because it is also established with Al-Hakim and others So the combination of advancing, as we said earlier, cannot be interpreted as the apparent combination. Then the discussion reached us regarding the combination in the state of residence. It is known that in Sahih Muslim, from the hadith of Abdullah ibn Abbas, he said: So this is a text that is authentic in its narration and explicit in its indication. Authentic in its narration, as it is narrated in Sahih Muslim with an authentic chain, and explicit in its indication because he says "to remove hardship." So interpreting such a text as the apparent combination is the hardship itself. This is exactly like the statement of some scholars that it is a condition for the permissibility of wiping over the socks that they be of a certain thickness, and that one can walk a certain distance in them, and that they not be torn, and so on. When these conditions and restrictions are placed on a dispensation that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) brought to us, the dispensation becomes the default ruling, and it places the community in hardship So if the hadith of Ibn Abbas, first, explicitly states that the combination was in Madinah without two known excuses, one being the excuse of travel and the other being the excuse of rain, and at that point, we have two Sunnahs related to a situation similar to our current seasonal situation, the winter season. If the Muslim is in his home and the mu'adhdhin, for example, calls for the midday prayer, he says in his call, if Allah wills, as is the consistent Sunnah, "Hasten to prayer, hasten to success," then he adds to these two phrases "Pray in your homes, pray in your homes," or he replaces these two phrases with "Pray in your homes, pray in your homes." He does not say in the call "Hasten to prayer, hasten to prayer" as is the custom and the Sunnah, but he replaces them with "Pray in your homes, pray in your homes." At that point, whoever is in his home and the rains are falling is not obligated to attend the mosque. That is, rain is legally a cause for dropping one of the obligations, which is the congregational prayer. This is the first Sunnah.