Combining prayers to remove hardship.
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The Shaykh : You asked about pressing need, so I answered you that it is not [a valid excuse].
The questioner : It is not a hardship.
The Shaykh : Alright, that is settled. Let us move on to something else.
The questioner : The point, Professor, is that it is the imam who combines the prayers for the people, not each person combining for himself?
The Shaykh : No, the discussion was not about that. In any case, it seems you have a question. Go ahead.
The questioner : ... Our Shaykh, "he wished not to burden his Ummah"—does this mean if someone says to you, "I am facing a hardship now, and there is an issue concerning the interests of the Muslims, and so on"?
The Shaykh : Combining, my brother, combining in the congregational prayer, if there is no general excuse like the excuses that occur in these days, there is no combining for the congregation and the imam; it would be individual combining because your excuse is not my excuse. Do you understand? But when the excuse covers everyone, then the combining is for everyone. So you must not overlook this. Is that clear?
The questioner : The question is whether this individual combining for an individual excuse is permissible. For example, a person says, "I have work, I have occupations concerning my affairs"?
The Shaykh : My brother, we have finished this stage. May Allah reward you. We said that removing hardship means... when I say "I have work," that is not removing hardship; that is rushing after worldly matters. That is the hardship. I meant that a man near the mosque is not allowed, because of pressing need or public benefit or a dispensation, to neglect the time and neglect the congregation. But if he faces hardship by persisting in performing the prayer at its proper time and also with the congregation, then in that case he may take the dispensation and pray alone, unlike the others.
The questioner : It is not a hardship.
The Shaykh : Alright, that is settled. Let us move on to something else.
The questioner : The point, Professor, is that it is the imam who combines the prayers for the people, not each person combining for himself?
The Shaykh : No, the discussion was not about that. In any case, it seems you have a question. Go ahead.
The questioner : ... Our Shaykh, "he wished not to burden his Ummah"—does this mean if someone says to you, "I am facing a hardship now, and there is an issue concerning the interests of the Muslims, and so on"?
The Shaykh : Combining, my brother, combining in the congregational prayer, if there is no general excuse like the excuses that occur in these days, there is no combining for the congregation and the imam; it would be individual combining because your excuse is not my excuse. Do you understand? But when the excuse covers everyone, then the combining is for everyone. So you must not overlook this. Is that clear?
The questioner : The question is whether this individual combining for an individual excuse is permissible. For example, a person says, "I have work, I have occupations concerning my affairs"?
The Shaykh : My brother, we have finished this stage. May Allah reward you. We said that removing hardship means... when I say "I have work," that is not removing hardship; that is rushing after worldly matters. That is the hardship. I meant that a man near the mosque is not allowed, because of pressing need or public benefit or a dispensation, to neglect the time and neglect the congregation. But if he faces hardship by persisting in performing the prayer at its proper time and also with the congregation, then in that case he may take the dispensation and pray alone, unlike the others.
Source
www.al-albany.com
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.