What is the evidence of those who advocate for formal combining of prayers?

The Shaykh: Go ahead.

The questioner : First of all, peace be upon you.

The Shaykh : As for this, it only occurs upon departure.

The questioner : May Allah bless you and prolong your life.

The Shaykh : May Allah preserve you.

The questioner : And may Allah grant us and you well-being, and may He grant you good health.

The Shaykh : O Allah, amen.

The questioner : Regarding the combining of prayers while resident due to the excuse of rain, for those who advocate for formal combining, could you please inform us, in this matter, what is their evidence?

The Shaykh : First, it is a grave error in this country to say "formal combining." What harm is there in you making the effort to combine here, instead of saying "formal combining"? Why "formal"? There is no formality here. "Formal" means superficial, meaning not real. Combining is of two types: real combining and formal combining, i.e., superficial. This formal combining is a Hanafi innovation. They stated it in many authentic Prophetic hadiths, and then some who did not grasp some of the hadiths that explicitly state that the combining was real combining, not formal combining, adopted it. The Hanafis do not speak of formal combining in the case of residence, but they extend that to travel as well. They said that all the hadiths that came regarding the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) combining in travel, they say his combining was formal and not real. This claim is undoubtedly a forced one. But they have support for it because they cling to the general principle: Indeed.
The student : Indeed, prayer.

The Shaykh So they cling to this principle and interpret the hadiths that explicitly state that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) combined, saying that this combining is only formal combining, not real combining. They do not have real combining except at 'Arafah and Muzdalifah only. We responded to these people first, and then to those who say formal combining in residence, second. We responded to these people first: that there are explicit hadiths that the combining in travel was real combining and not formal combining. For example, a hadith in "Sahih Muslim" from the narration of Anas (may Allah be pleased with him): "That the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) combined in travel between the midday and afternoon prayers, delaying the midday prayer until the beginning of the time of the afternoon prayer." Is this formal or real combining?
The student : Real.

The Shaykh : Real, because the Companion, who witnessed the Messenger (peace be upon him), says: "He delayed the midday prayer until the beginning of the afternoon prayer." Similarly, there are hadiths from Ibn 'Umar and others: , and this is an allusion to the entry or exit of the time of the sunset prayer and the entry of the time of the night prayer. This type of hadiths that specify that the combining was real combining in the combining that is combining by delay. But what is stronger in indicating real combining is combining by advancement, because combining by advancement does not bear that interpretation; because combining by advancement means that he advanced the afternoon prayer from its time to the time of the sunset prayer, and similarly advanced the night prayer to the time of the sunset prayer. And there are some authentic hadiths in this combining, which is combining by advancement. So with this, the interpretation of the hadiths that came that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) used to combine in travel, and which do not have this detail, is invalidated. But here it is said that the absolute is restricted by the qualified. As for the response to those who say that combining in the case of residence is formal combining, we respond to them that first: no combining called formal combining is known among the righteous Salaf. Rather, as I said, it is a Hanafi technical term to escape from those hadiths that explicitly stated that the Messenger combined, so they interpreted them by saying that this combining is formal combining. But you have known the invalidity of this combining by some explicit hadiths in combining by delay and combining by advancement. So when Ibn 'Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) combined in the city without travel or rain, between the midday and afternoon, and the sunset and night prayers. They said: O Abu al-'Abbas, what did he intend by that? He said: He intended not to burden his Ummah." He intended not to burden his Ummah. When Ibn 'Abbas said: "The Messenger of Allah combined between the midday and afternoon," to the end of the hadith: "without travel or rain"; so this exception of "without travel or rain" indicates that the combining was real combining. Why? Because we established earlier that the combining in travel was real, and now we will say that the combining in rain cannot be anything but real combining and combining by advancement, and combining by advancement. So there is no room for saying formal combining in the Salaf or in residence. Why? I mentioned first that Ibn 'Abbas said: This exception means that the combining was real combining because it is the known one in travel, because combining in the case of rain cannot be anything but real combining and combining by advancement, not combining by delay. So now, as you see in the scenes, for example, rains fell at the time of the midday prayer. Now they combine between the midday and the afternoon. If they do not combine between the midday and the afternoon by combining by advancement, it is possible that the time of the afternoon is not there. First, the cause of combining, which is the rain, is gone. Second, they combine between the afternoon and which prayer? The prayer before it has been prayed, and the prayer after it is the sunset. It is not possible to combine between the afternoon and the sunset. Therefore, the combining for the sake of rain is not conceivable except that it is first real combining, and then that it is combining by advancement, not combining by delay. Therefore, I believe that those who interpret the combining mentioned in the hadith of Ibn 'Abbas and others as formal combining did so out of their eagerness—may Allah have mercy on you—out of their eagerness to preserve the principle mentioned earlier. This is my answer.

The questioner : We are facing an issue...

The Shaykh : Yes, regarding the issue of...

The questioner : May Allah reward you.

The Shaykh : And may He reward you.