Combining Prayers At The Mosque Due To Natural Disasters

COMBINING PRAYERS AT THE MOSQUE DUE TO NATURAL DISASTERS

The majority of scholars across various schools of jurisprudence, namely Maliki, Shafi‘i, and Hanbali, permit combining prayers without shortening (qasar) in the mosque due to natural disasters such as heavy rain, storms, extreme cold, floods, mudslides, and the like.

After examining the arguments of the majority scholars, the Fatwa Committee agrees that in such natural disaster conditions as mentioned, the mosque authorities may combine Zuhr and ‘Asr prayers, as well as Maghrib and ‘Isha’ prayers, without shortening.

The implementation of combined prayers (jam') shall be conducted at the location where congregational prayers are performed in the disaster-affected area, particularly at mosques. Such combining should be prioritized during the earlier time period (jam' taqdim). This is because the purpose of permitting combining at the mosque is to avoid hardship (masyaqqah) for those who will attend congregational prayers at the mosque. Meanwhile, jam' taqdim is prioritized as emphasized by some jurists (fuqaha') because the disaster conditions may end before the entry of the subsequent prayer time. However, if circumstances necessitate that the congregational prayer be performed during the second time period, then delayed combining (jam' ta'khir) may be conducted.

Whoever has performed congregational prayers at a mosque that combined prayers due to disaster does not need to repeat his or her prayers even if the disaster has ended.