Continuation of the discussion on the ruling regarding combining two prayers.

The Shaykh: ... It is as if heThe questioner : is ignorant or does not know that combining prayers for rain is explicitly mentioned in the hadith narrated by Muslim, from the hadith of Ibn Abbas, who said, "The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) combined the Dhuhr and Asr prayers, and the Maghrib and Isha' prayers, in Medina, without travel or rain." They asked, "What did he intend by that, O Abu al-Abbas?" (Abu al-Abbas is the kunya of Abdullah ibn Abbas). "What did he intend by that, O Abu al-Abbas?" He said, "He intended not to burden his Ummah." The point of the hadith is Ibn Abbas's statement "without travel or rain." This indicates that it was established and known among the people addressed that combining prayers due to travel and combining prayers due to rain was a well-known and famous matter among them. Therefore, when he wanted to clarify that the Messenger (peace be upon him) combined prayers in Medina while resident, and there was no rain there, and that he only combined them to remove hardship from the Ummah, they asked him, "What did he intend by that, O Abu al-Abbas?" He said, "He intended not to burden his Ummah." So, combining prayers for rain is a matter explicitly mentioned in this hadith, and perhaps in others. The practice of it has been carried out among Muslims in the past and present, and it is not a religious innovation; rather, it is a recommended practice and a dispensation. Therefore, if combining is for rain, it is self-evident that it should be combining by advancing the prayer, not combining by delaying it. As for there being other hadiths regarding combining by advancing, we say yes, but they are specific to travel, or were reported in the context of travel. We do not have an explicit hadith regarding combining by advancing while resident, except what reality necessitates, which is that rain falls, and the prayer is Dhuhr or Maghrib, so it is combined with the one following it. I hope I have addressed the question, or is there something else?