Combining + Shortening Prayers (Hadith No. 518)

Salam,
Bismillah.

Volume 1, Book 10, Number 518:

Narrated Ibn ‘Abbas:

“The Prophet prayed eight Rakat for the Zuhr and ‘Asr, and seven for the Maghrib and ‘Isha prayers in Medina.” Aiyub said, “Perhaps those were rainy nights.” Anas said, “May be.”

Prayers can be shortened + combined while traveling, and during extraordinary circumstances. One shouldn’t make a habit out of this, though.

Breaking down the Hadith:

• Eight Rak’aat for Zuhr and ‘Asr = 4 fardh (obligatory) rak’aat for Zuhr + 4 fardh rak’aat for ‘Asr.
• Seven Rak’aat for Maghrib and ‘Isha: 3 fardh rak’aat for Maghrib + 4 fardh rak’aat for ‘Isha.

Prophet (SAW) left the sunnah rak’aat due to extraordinary circumstances, as the narrator comments: “perhaps those were rainy nights”. Again, one shouldn’t make a habit out of this as such instances are found very rarely in Prophet (SAW)’s life. He offered the sunnah rak’aat very regularly.

One more thing, while combining prayers during travel, make sure to keep this order (as in Hadith) in mind. You can combine Zuhr with ‘Asr, and Maghrib with ‘Isha only. The combo of ‘Asr and Maghrib, or any other won’t do.

And another thing, when you’re combining prayers, you may delay one of them. For instance, if you’re traveling and it’s Zuhr time, you may make the intention of praying Zuhr with ‘Asr, hence delaying Zuhr. And it can be done the other way round as well: praying ‘Asr with Zuhr, during Zuhr time.

You can start shortening + combining your prayers while traveling with certain conditions. Those, we’ll cover in due time inshaAllah. For starters, know that ‘traveling’ within your city does not mean you can shorten your prayers.

Wassalam.