Peace be upon you, and the mercy of Allah and His blessings
Our Sayed, why do we combine the prayers, and not pray each one separately?
Zaynab
Why do we combine the prayers?
Sayed Mahmoud Al-Mosawi29 Shaʿban 1431 AH4,876 views
Translated from Arabic — the Arabic original is the authoritative text.Read the Arabic original
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Answer
In the Name of Allah, the All-beneficent, the All-merciful
Dear sister Zaynab, may Allah the Exalted protect you
Peace be upon you, and the mercy of Allah and His blessings
Regarding combining the prayers: Muslims in general have agreed on the basic permissibility of combining the prayers, but as for the other schools, some of them restricted the permissibility to travel, or to ʿArafa, or to when a person is ill..
This proves to us that the time of the combined prayer, such as ʿAsr, has begun, and therefore it is permissible to perform it.. Otherwise, a person cannot pray before the time for any excuse, for the simple reason that its obligation has not yet arrived.
Moreover, the narrations of the Sunnis have indicated that the Messenger (s) combined the prayers without an excuse, and we mention these two narrations:
From Saʿid ibn Jubayr, from Ibn ʿAbbas, who said: (The Messenger of Allah (s) prayed Zuhr and ʿAsr together, and Maghrib and ʿIshaʾ together, without fear and without travel) – Sahih Muslim.
From Jabir ibn Zayd, from Ibn ʿAbbas, who said: (I prayed with the Prophet eight together) – Musnad Ahmad ibn Hanbal.
As for the school of the Ahl al-Bayt (a), it has acted according to what the Messenger said and what the Messenger (s) did, and likewise according to what the Ahl al-Bayt (a) emphasized, because they are the successors (awṣiyāʾ) after the Prophet (s) from whom we take the religion and its rulings..
Al-Sadiq (a) says: The Messenger of Allah (s) combined Zuhr and ʿAsr with one adhan and two iqamas, and combined Maghrib and ʿIshaʾ while at home, without any reason, with a single adhan and two iqamas.
Also, the Holy Qurʾan has indicated three times for the five prayers in this verse: “Maintain the prayer [during the period] from the sun’s decline till the darkness of the night, and [observe particularly] the dawn recital. Indeed the dawn recital is attended [by angels].” (Qurʾan 17:78)
So “the sun’s decline” means its passing the meridian, that is, the time of Zuhr (so Zuhr and ʿAsr are prayed), then “the darkness of the night” (the two prayers of Maghrib and ʿIshaʾ), and “the dawn recital” means its time, which is the Fajr prayer.
And all praise belongs to Allah, Lord of all the worlds
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