combined prayers Maghrib and Isha

[IbrahimWatson]

Salaams everyone. I am a new revert and because of my hectic lifestyle, I do the combined prayers. How does that exactly work? I have been doing Maghrib and Isha together before bedtime. As I have been doing Dhuhr and Asr together as well because of work. How does this exactly work? Is there a specific time you have to combine them? Thanks!

[Jin Jin]

@IbrahimWatson

The Imams [twelve] from the family of Muhammad (S) have declared that this is permissible at all times although it is better to separate them [prayers]. Their followers (Shi`as) have followed them in this [ruling] at all times and places. Most of the time, they combine al-zuhr and al-`asr, and al-maghrib and al-`isha' [prayers], whether they are traveling, are at home, or, they have an excuse [to combine], and without no excuse at all. ‘Jam' al-taqdim’ and ‘jam' al-ta'khir’ are equally valid for them [at all times].

As for the School of Hanafis [jurisprudence], they have prohibited the combination [of prayers] absolutely, with exception being at `Arafa and al-Muzdalifa. [This is] despite the presence of numerous clear sahih (authentic traditions) which allow the combination, especially when traveling. However, despite the clear [traditions], they (the School of Hanafis) interpreted them to refer to an unintentional combination (al-jam' al-suri). The invalidity of this [view] will become clear to you soon, God willing.

As for the School of Shafi`is, Malikis and Hanbalis (three differing jurisprudence respectively), they have allowed it (the combination) when travelling although there are differences between them. Otherwise, they are not allowed to combine except for [genuine] excuses; for example, when there is rain, soil, sickness and fear. There are also differences between them on the conditions which consider traveling as a legitimate requisite to combine chronologically separated prayers.

[Sirius_Bright]

Alaikas Salaam brother, 

Asr prayer can be performed after Dhuhr prayers. 

Similarly you can pray Isha prayers after you are done with Maghrib but before midnight.

Midnight is halfway between sunset and true dawn (and not 0.00 hours) 

[IbrahimWatson]

Okay then, so it is okay then for me to do that? Usually, I am in bed by midnight. So, I usually, pray maghrib and Isha together but wasn't sure if there was a certain time. I just thought, well Maghrib starts at 5:23 but I don't get around to it until after Isha has started. I just wanted to make sure that this wasn't wrong. Thanks for your help!

[Hassan-]

16 minutes ago, IbrahimWatson said:

Okay then, so it is okay then for me to do that? Usually, I am in bed by midnight. So, I usually, pray maghrib and Isha together but wasn't sure if there was a certain time. I just thought, well Maghrib starts at 5:23 but I don't get around to it until after Isha has started. I just wanted to make sure that this wasn't wrong. Thanks for your help!

Salam, as what brother Sirius said, count the time between sunset till fajr in your area, then divide that time by two, and add the time on the sunset to get the timing for Midnight. The Midnight we are talking about is not the 12:00 am Midnight.

You can combine your prayers anytime between mughrib and Midnight.

[Sirius_Bright]

On 11/5/2017 at 1:54 PM, IbrahimWatson said:

Okay then, so it is okay then for me to do that?

Absolutely, Holy Prophet (sawa) combined prayers with or without reason so can we. 

[IbrahimWatson]

That confuses me. Okay, so Maghrib starts at 5:23 here today and Isha at 6:26. Roughly an hour in between. Can you give me an example using that? I can't wrap my head around that idea for some reason. lol

16 minutes ago, Hassan- said:

Salam, as what brother Sirius said, count the time between sunset till fajr in your area, then divide that time by two, and add the time on the sunset to get the timing for Midnight. The Midnight we are talking about is not the 12:00 am Midnight.

You can combine your prayers anytime between mughrib and Midnight.

[Hameedeh]

To calculate the Midnight (when your Isha prayer would become late) you can estimate it by adding 11 hours and 15 minutes to the Dhuhr prayer time. If you go to http://praytime.info/index.php and click on Modify to save your address location, it will tell you the times for sunrise, sunset and the times for all prayers, including Dhuhr. 

[Hassan-]

On 11/5/2017 at 2:32 PM, IbrahimWatson said:

That confuses me. Okay, so Maghrib starts at 5:23 here today and Isha at 6:26. Roughly an hour in between. Can you give me an example using that? I can't wrap my head around that idea for some reason. lol

What time is fajr and sunset for you today? Let’s assume your sunset today is at 5pm and fajr at 6am.

When you count from 5pm to 6am, that would be 13 hours. Now divide 13 by 2, that would equal to 6.5. Now add 6.5 hours to your sunset, 6.5 + 5 = 11.5. Therefore your Midnight today will be at 11:30 pm. 

Edit: I forgot to mention, if it becomes past midnight and you still haven’t prayed the mughrib & isha, it will NOT be qada, but instead the expiry time will extend till fajr, meaning you have until fajr prayer to pray the mughrib & isha.

[IbrahimWatson]

2 minutes ago, Hassan- said:

What time is fajr for you today?

5:43AM

[IbrahimWatson]

Salaam everyone. Thanks for your responses. This was quite helpful. Especially that formula! Alhamdulillah!