Permissible and Impermissible Situations to Combine Salaah

 

Shaykh Saleem bin ‘Eed al-Hilaalee wrote:

If a masbooq (latecomer) – after observing the first Salaah – catches a portion of the combined prayer with the Imaam, it is permissible for him to complete the combination based on the general import of the saying of the Prophet (sallallaahu alayhi wasallam): “And whatever portion of the prayer you get (along with the Imaam) offer it, and complete afterwards whatever you missed.” However, if he did not get anything of the combined prayer (i.e. the second Salaah), it is not permissible for him to combine because the previous evidence did not include him. There are four scenarios of what has preceded:

First scenario: Whoever comes [to the masjid] at the time of Dhuhr prayer – when Dhuhr and ‘Asr prayers are being combined – it is permissible for him to complete his Dhuhr prayer and then join the ‘Asr prayer. The same applies to whoever comes at the time of Maghrib prayer when the Imaam is combining Maghrib and Ishaa prayers.

Second Scenario: Whoever arrives at the end of the completion of Dhuhr prayer [when the Imaam is combining Dhuhr and ‘Asr], he should join those observing ‘Asr with the intention of performing Dhuhr; and due to the fact that he did not get anything of the first Salaah (i.e. Dhuhr), he has missed the privilege of combining both prayers.

Third Scenario: Whoever arrives at the beginning of the combined prayer (i.e. Ishaa’ prayer), but he has not prayed Maghrib, what should he do? Our Shaykh al-Albaanee stated: ‘This person should follow the Imaam who is observing Ishaa’ prayer, but he should have the intention of praying Maghrib. If the Imaam gets up for the fourth rak’ah, this ma’moom should intend to separate himself from the Imam. Then he should sit, recite the tashahhud and complete his prayer alone. In this situation, it is allowed for him to stand up after finishing the first Salaah, in order to get a portion of the combined Ishaa’ prayer with the Imaam. Afterwards he completes as usual whatever he has missed.

Fourth scenario: Whoever comes after the Imaam has observed the first rak’ah and above of Ishaa’ prayer [and he hasn’t observed Maghrib prayer], it is not permissible for him to combine the prayers. This is because he only met what suffices for the first Salaah. As for the combined prayer, he did not get anything from it.

Source: Zubdatul-Afhaam bi Fawaa’id ‘Umdatil-Ahkaam, vol. 1, p. 559-560 by Shaykh Saleem bin Eed al-Hilaalee. Translated by Abdus-Samee Abdus-Salaam.