Is it permissible to combine prayers in cases of fear and rain?

Abu Malik: Today is for our brother Abu Abdullah, because Abdullah sat with...The Shaykh : ...and he has some questions, and perhaps the questions in his pocket are new and... and they relate to economic aspects in sales and money, so we ask that our brother Abu Abdullah take the greater share of this session.

The questioner: May Allah reward you, O Shaykh, let us proceed.

The Shaykh: Oh, he is going to open a special tape for you! And peace be upon you, praise be to Allah for your safety, you kept us busy.

The questioner: Shaykh, my question concerns the topic of combining the two prayers. This topic has been the preoccupation of many people among us in Kuwait. Some shaykhs combine simply because of the presence of fear, during the time of shelling and such. Also, the topic of combining in the rain. I know, as far as I am aware, that al-Shawkani and Imam Abu Hanifa held that the combining performed by the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was a formal combining, meaning that he delayed the time of the Dhuhr or Maghrib prayer to the end of its time, and brought forward the prayer that follows it to the beginning of its time. Some scholars said that combining is permissible absolutely. Do you know this disagreement? In truth, we want a comprehensive answer to this issue.

The Shaykh: The issue, as Abu Malik indicated, is that there is a tape in which this topic was researched, except for the prayer in fear. So I will answer as much as possible, and then we will speak about the cause of fear. Regarding combining for the cause of fear, I say that the view that there is a combining in the Shari'ah called "formal combining" is, in reality, first of all, something for which we do not know a basis in the language of the righteous Salaf. Rather, this was resorted to by some scholars, especially from the Hanafis, to escape from the authentic hadiths that explicitly state that the Messenger (peace be upon him) combined between Dhuhr and Asr, and between Maghrib and Isha in travel. This was out of their desire to reconcile this combining, which allows for two interpretations—true combining and formal combining—by claiming that this combining was formal, out of their desire to preserve the texts that obligate the worshippers to perform every prayer in its time, such as the famous verse But the hadith, as is always the case, is prominent in adhering to the Sunnah without interpretation and without negating its apparent meaning, let alone its explicit meaning. So they do not recognize this formal, superficial combining because of the explicit hadiths regarding true combining. Among them is what Anas ibn Malik said: "The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) combined between Dhuhr and Asr, delaying Dhuhr to the beginning of the time of Asr." This refutes the formal, superficial combining because it is explicit in meaning that the delay was for the first prayer to the beginning of the time of the second prayer that follows the first. Then, what is more decisive against the claim of formal combining is the combining by bringing forward, because this does not accept any interpretation whatsoever. This is also established in some hadiths Then, the combining at 'Arafah and at Muzdalifah is also combining by bringing forward. But the Hanafis, regarding these two locations at 'Arafah and Muzdalifah, praise be to Allah, agreed with the people of hadith in affirming them. But they said there is no combining other than at 'Arafah and Muzdalifah except formal combining. They could not deny the other hadiths in which the Messenger combined between the two prayers, because the truth is that if we do not say it is mass-transmitted, it is famous or widespread. But they escaped from it for the reconciliation I mentioned earlier by inventing formal combining. So the explicit statement in some hadiths refuted this combining: delaying Dhuhr to the beginning of the time of Asr, and the combining which is combining by bringing forward. Therefore, I believe that whoever gathers the hadiths specifically regarding combining cannot say something like what al-Shawkani said. And I do not know now how al-Shawkani leaned toward such a view, which is known that none of the four followed schools hold it except the Hanafi school. Because we know of Imam al-Shawkani that, in truth, may Allah the Exalted guide him, as He saved him from the Zaydi school, which is much further from the Muhammadan Sunnah than the Hanafi school. So I do not know how he remained with this interpretation that contradicts the giants of the hadiths regarding true combining, whether it was by delaying or by bringing forward. Finally, regarding the prayer in fear which you asked about, I say that the people of Makkah know its valleys best, and the witness sees what the absent one does not see, and the other hadith So, as long as you lived in that truly frightening and terrifying atmosphere, I believe that in that case, if there is true fear, combining is permissible a fortiori, whether it is combining by bringing forward or combining by delaying, from the combining that may be done for such as rain, such as severe cold, or snow, or the like. And its evidence is from Ibn Abbas's explanation of the hadith he narrated to the people with the wording: "The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) combined in Makkah between Dhuhr and Asr, and between Maghrib and Isha, without travel or rain. They said: O Abu Abd al-Rahman, what did he intend by that? He said: He intended not to put his Ummah in difficulty." So, whoever is in a frightening place feels that he is in difficulty, or perhaps a person is, for example, in a place armed in the way that used to come to us from Saddam before, and his army is, for example, stored in places. Some of them told us that the strongest bombs cannot reach them. So, whoever is in such a place does not fear, and therefore he should not combine. But whoever is in such ordinary houses, this is not like that. So, where difficulty is found, combining is found. This is the answer. But I cannot say it is permissible or not permissible, due to the difference I mentioned earlier between, for example, a place fortified against bombs and an ordinary, non-fortified place. This is the answer to what you asked.
Al-Halabi: Our Shaykh, regarding the report the brother quoted from al-Shawkani, the reality is that it is not correct. Rather, Imam al-Shawkani has a treatise on the validity of combining by bringing forward. Or is it not famous?
Famous: Imam al-Shawkani (may Allah have mercy on him) has a treatise *... al-Sam' in Refuting the Evidence for Combining* and he established in *al-Sayl* and *al-Nayl* the invalidity of combining and leaned, as you mentioned, to combining by action or formal combining. But I ask about formal combining. You mentioned and said that no evidence was found and no report from the righteous Salaf regarding it. So I ask about the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) to the woman with irregular bleeding regarding prayer. Also, the insertion mentioned in the hadith of Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him and him) which you placed in your book *Irwaa' al-Ghalil*, where Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him and him) said with formal combining: "And he delayed this and hastened this." Is this not considered a basis for formal combining, especially since the explicit text of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) in the hadith of the woman with irregular bleeding is clear and manifest, and that both cases are prescribed: formal combining in cases like limiting to the state of illness, for example, for the woman with irregular bleeding, and combining by bringing forward, like combining by action or combining of time, is prescribed in other than that, in travel, and as you mentioned in Hajj, or in rain.

The Shaykh: First, before answering this question, how do you reconcile what was reported and what you reported?
Al-Halabi: Al-Shawkani denies combining completely?
Mashhur: Yes.
Al-Halabi: It means Ibn al-Iraqi, who has [a work] on the validity of combining by bringing forward.
Famous: Ibn al-Iraqi *al-Qawl al-Qawim in the Permissibility and Validity of Combining by Bringing Forward*.

The Shaykh: The answer, first, what you mentioned of the hadith bringing forward this and delaying this, do you see that in it, at least what I say now, is there an explicit statement of formal combining?
Famous: There is no clear explicit statement in it.

The Shaykh: This is what I want from you now. The second question: does such a combining allow for true combining and allow for formal combining? A second question?
Famous: It is possible that the two prayers are performed.

The Shaykh: May Allah bless you. So, if we leave this text aside, is there another text in which there is an explicit statement of formal combining?
Famous: I do not know except these two texts.

The Shaykh : If this [ruling] admits of both real combining and apparent combining, it should be applied to the other hadiths that explicitly state real combining. Should not the combining of the hadiths be done in this manner? That is, the general and ambiguous text does not override the explicit and detailed text; rather, the opposite is exactly correct according to the jurists. This is one point. The second point is that apparent combining, my brother, does not require a specific text, because when the scholars say, based on the authentic hadiths The only thing is that the best of actions is to pray at its time or at the beginning of its time. The preference is to maintain the beginning of the time, except for what is excluded, such as the night prayer. As for the issue of permissibility, the hadiths of the specific times, namely the prayer of Jibril (peace be upon him) when he led the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), in addition to these verbal hadiths that came from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) clarifying the times with precise detail, are sufficient for us, making the claim of apparent combining unnecessary. Because apparent combining means delaying the first prayer until before the other prayer. This is permissible by consensus, because this timing means the permissibility of this combining, which is called apparent combining. This is the second point. The third and final point is that one who follows the hadiths of combining understands that the intended meaning is as stated in the hadith of Ibn Abbas: "He intended not to burden his Ummah." To obligate the one praying to delay the prayer whose performance is prescribed at the beginning of its time until the end of its time, first, involves losing the preference, and second, involves imposing a burden that contradicts the removal of hardship. Is this clear? If so, these interpretations actually, first, nullify an explicit legal ruling, and second, nullify the purpose and wisdom behind legislating this ruling, which is the removal of hardship from the Ummah. And with that, the answer to your question is complete.