An imam refused to combine the two prayers in the rain, so one of the followers stepped forward and led the people in prayer; is the prayer of the followers invalid?

The questioner : I led the people in the Maghrib prayer and did not accept combining [it with 'Isha']. After I finished the prayer, another man stepped forward, called the iqamah, and led the people in the 'Isha prayer.

The Shaykh : Did he do it with the imam's permission?

The questioner : No, without my permission, without my permission.

The Shaykh : This was anticipated in the answer, may Allah reward you.

The questioner : What can I say to you, until I alerted the worshippers that their prayer was not permissible, we feared fitnah that... that the prayer was permissible and meant [to be valid].

The Shaykh : We say this out of fear of something like this.

Another questioner : Shaykh, is the prayer invalid in this case?

The Shaykh : No, it is not invalid, it is valid, but it is not, meaning, prescribed or recommended.
...
As a congregation?

The questioner : No, it was not.

The Shaykh : Why did they combine?

The questioner : They had become accustomed to it, because there is an imam in the mosque who combines often, so they became accustomed to the people combining.

Another questioner : You say: they became accustomed to...

The questioner : They became accustomed to...

The Shaykh : They became accustomed to combining on every occasion.

Another questioner : In the rain, it needs to be.

The questioner : ... that day ... anything, meaning if a slight wind blew, they wanted to combine.

Another questioner : There is no need, oh Shaykh, he is saying, meaning when your imam used to combine; he used to combine as a habit, but there would be rain or there would be wind... there was no rain and there was wind or an expectation of such, the imam who regulates it, but you, meaning the Shaykh wants from you, that the imam who used to combine, combined like this without an excuse?

The questioner : If the imam is absent, I become the imam in his place, on that day the imam was absent and I was the one who led them, and there was no excuse for combining; because there was no rain, and there was no wind, it was cold, so they said: combine; I said to them: there is no combining.

The Shaykh : ... combining.

The questioner : They want to combine.

The Shaykh : For you - my brother - we understood...

Another questioner : They have cold.

The questioner : ... they have cold, yes, but there was not...

The Shaykh : So there is a claim, there is a claim of an excuse, not that there is no reason, but this reason is discussed, is it correct or not, meaning now - for example - combining in the rain is permissible, there may be an imam who holds this opinion that it is permissible to combine due to the excuse of rain, but the rain is just starting to fall lightly, one of the attendees may say: oh imam, combine, he says: no, why? Because he did not see that this rain would be an excuse, yes, this is not permissible for us to create disagreement among ourselves, we say: it is fine, we will be with the imam, and it may be, as we said earlier, it may be heavy rain, but he does not see that this heavy rain is a Sharia reason for combining, he may have an idea - for example - he says: my brother, the rain today in our roads and alleys is not like the rain in those roads in the time of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him); because we all know that those roads were not paved.
And for that reason, the hadith came when the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said: . So a woman stood up and said: O Messenger of Allah, then our calves will be exposed! He said: . The questioner said: a wind comes; it increases another shibr and they do not increase. Another questioner came: O Messenger of Allah, and when we drag the hem, it passes over impurities and filth. He said: ; because the ground is earthen, here is the point, now it is not like this, when it rains it washes the ground clean, and there is no clay and no mud, so a person may see that our situation today is not that situation, of course I do not say this, but seek an excuse for your brother, so then we do not have, meaning, opposition and disagreement and so on, we leave him to his own affairs and pray with him, when you are the imam and you see that there is a Sharia excuse for combining, you combine, then whoever wishes agrees, and whoever wishes disagrees; meaning the Muslim must not be, meaning, extreme; because the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), when he sent Mu'adh and Abu Musa to Yemen, the first thing he advised them with, he said to them: , it becomes a problem, two leaders entered a new area, each one started doing as he pleased, he will cause fitnah!! Now here we are falling into this problem.

The questioner: Correct.

The Shaykh : The common people, poor things, they hear something from the Shaykh, they hear from the second Shaykh; yes, you have confused us!! I swear by Allah, I say: sincerely, and the reason is not in this issue, meaning they were lost, they confused them, they did not teach them what the Sharia ruling is, if they taught them beforehand as a principle and they had a firm culture in their minds that knowledge is not what the Shaykh said, knowledge is as Ibn al-Qayyim said:
"Knowledge is what Allah said, what His Messenger said *** What the Companions said, not by deception
Knowledge did not appoint you for foolish disagreement *** Between the Messenger and the opinion of a jurist"
To the end of it.
The common people now, rather students of knowledge, rather teachers of students, rather doctors of students; still they do not have... this belief that knowledge is what Allah said, what the Messenger of Allah said, so what about the common people? If the common people had this belief firmly established, their minds would not be confused and they would not say: yes, you have confused us; because the true scholar would say to him: my brother, no, we are showing you what our evidence is, look at what the other one's evidence is, in most cases, in most cases, he will see evidence with one and not see evidence with the other; at that time, the confusion will go away.