Is it necessary to intend combining when a person wants to combine 'Isha' with Maghrib?

The questioner : Is it necessary to intend combining if a person wants to combine Maghrib with 'Isha'; that he intends during the time of Maghrib that he will combine?

The Shaykh : No, some scholars say this, and it is the Shafi'i school, but this has no evidence in the Sunnah. Rather, those who follow the hadiths of combining found that the Companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) were caught by surprise by combining, especially in the case of combining by advancing; they were caught by surprise that the Messenger (peace be upon him) combined with them, and he did not say to them: "Bring to mind in your intentions now that we will pray the midday prayer and we will add the afternoon prayer to the midday prayer." This condition that some scholars impose has no basis in the Sunnah; rather, it is a complication of the matter, and its consequence has become clear, as happened in many mosques on days of winter and severe cold. A person enters the mosque not knowing that the imam and his congregation intend to combine, so he enters and finds them praying 'Isha'. What kind of combining is that? Combining by advancing. It did not occur to him to combine between Maghrib and 'Isha', so he intended to pray Maghrib, because they are praying 'Isha' in the time of Maghrib. Yes. So is it said to this person: "It is not permissible for you to combine because you did not bring the intention to mind at the beginning, before you prayed the Maghrib prayer?" No. In fact, the saying of the Prophet (peace be upon him) applies to him, even if not in this specific occasion: .

The questioner : Does delaying mean the same as advancing?

The Shaykh : Yes, there is absolutely no difference.

The questioner : Because it happens to us.

The Shaykh : This is from one aspect. From another aspect, everyone understands that the purpose of combining is to make things easy, a dispensation, meaning; so when conditions and restrictions are placed on a dispensation, it means we have taken it out of being a dispensation. One of the clearest examples of this is the conditions that some scholars mention regarding wiping over leather socks or wiping over socks, specifically wiping over socks; they must, for example, be thick, they must stay on the leg by themselves and not by a special strap, they must not be torn, they must be such and such, Glory be to Allah! One must travel a distance with this sock and it must not fall down, Glory be to Allah! And as al-Hasan al-Basri (may Allah have mercy on him) said from the righteous predecessors: "Were not the socks and leather shoes of the Ansar torn?"
And the result of this is that a person, when he wants to be bound by these strict restrictions, must make it his habit to check his socks; whenever he sees a hole on one side, he comes to patch it and mend it. Islam is not like this, ; meaning, in fact, Islam is a middle path: we do not be lenient in what the Lawgiver has commanded, nor do we be strict in what the Lawgiver has not commanded, but rather as He (the Exalted) said: . We do not make easy what He has made strict, nor do we make strict what He has made easy; rather, we follow the ruling of the Shari'ah. And as He (the Exalted) said: . There is strictness, but we do not say, as they say in Syria, "What is this strictness, O Messenger of Allah?" That is a statement of disbelief. Yes, indeed. And we do not, likewise, make easy what has come as a decisive and severe ruling.
For the traveler, for example, there is the default ruling and a dispensation. The dispensation, as we said, is combining, and the default ruling is shortening. So we do not give the person the choice between shortening and completing; no. Because the Lady Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) used to say: "The prayer was prescribed as two rak'ahs, two rak'ahs, and it was left as such in travel, and it was increased in residence." So it is obligatory for the traveler to pray two rak'ahs; we do not say it is a dispensation that he prays two rak'ahs; no, this is the obligation itself. But combining between the two prayers is a dispensation; if you wish to take the dispensation, that is better for you, and if you wish not to take the dispensation because it is not the default ruling, that is better; because the Messenger (peace be upon him) said: , and in another hadith: . . So this is how the Muslim is with the Shari'ah: where it is strict, he is strict, where it has given a dispensation, he takes the dispensation, giving every ruling its due, without excess or deficiency. This is Islam .

Another questioner : This happens to us in travel; we have the intention to combine, to delay Maghrib for 'Isha, then we find ourselves in a good situation... we stood up and prayed.

The Shaykh : We combined by advancing.

Another questioner : Advancing.

The Shaykh : What is the ruling on him?

Another questioner : There is no harm.