Mu' meneen Brothers and Sisters,

As Salaam Aleikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh. (May Allah's Peace, Mercy and Blessings be upon all of you)

One of our brothers/sisters has asked this question:

Assalamu alykum, first thanks for answering my last question,I have a question about joining fard prayer, can i join Juhr and Asr and Maghrib and Isha prayer bacause of work. Now the problem is there is no chance or place to pray on time those prayer where i work. Please, let me know can I do this or I have to leave those evening shift. 

(There may be some grammatical and spelling errors in the above statement. The forum does not change anything from questions, comments and statements received from our readers for circulation in confidentiality.)

Answer:

Combine prayers because busy

In the name of Allah, We praise Him, seek His help and ask for His forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides none can misguide, and whoever He allows to fall astray, none can guide them aright. We bear witness that there is none worthy of worship but Allah Alone, and we bear witness that Muhammad (saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of His Messengers.

There is evidence in the authentic and established hadiths that the only times the Messenger of Allah (saws) would combine his ‘dhuhr+asr’ prayers and his ‘magrib+isha’ prayers was either during travel (when outside the city of Madinah) or when it was raining (when resident in the city of Madinah).

Being busy or at work is not an excuse to delay or miss one’s obligatory prayers when resident in one’s city! The offering of one’s obligatory prayers takes only a few minutes, and regardless of what duties or chores one might be engaged in….it is the prescribed duty of the believers who are resident in their city to make sure that they offer their obligatory prayers on time.

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 4 Surah Nisaa verse 103:

Indeed the Salaat is a prescribed duty that should be performed by the believers at (their) appointed times.

Allah Says in the Holy Quran Chapter 2 Surah Baqarah verses 45-46:

45 Nay seek (Allah's) help with patient perseverance and ‘salaah’: it is indeed hard except to those who bring a lowly spirit.

46 Who bear in mind the certainty that they are to meet their Lord and that they are to return to Him.

Jabir reports that the Prophet (saws) said, "Between a person and disbelief is discarding (the obligatory) prayers."

Related by Ahmad, Muslim, Abu Dawud, at-Tirmidhi and Ibn Majah.

If one happens to be resident in their city, and chooses to consistently or even occasionally delay or miss their obligatory prayers beyond their appointed times only because they were at work or were busy, without an iota of a doubt, it would constitute a grave sin in the Sight of their Lord.

Whatever written of Truth and benefit is only due to Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error is of me alone. Allah Alone Knows Best and He is the Only Source of Strength.

Your brother and well wisher in Islam,

Burhan