the battlefield. Thus, there is no harm in delaying the prayer until the time of the next prayer. If it is a prayer that may be combined, then there is no issue—for example, delaying Zuhr until Asr, or Maghrib until Isha. But if it cannot be combined with the following prayer, such as delaying Isha until Fajr, Fajr until Zuhr, or Asr until Maghrib, then this is the point over which there is disagreement.

It is mentioned in al-Rawd that, for the fear prayer to be permissible, the fighting must itself be lawful. Lawful fighting is fighting the disbelievers or defensive fighting (1).

As for an offensive attack against those whom it is not lawful to fight, this does not permit the fear prayer. Rather, we say to one who fights in this manner: You must cease fighting.

Lawful fighting is of several types: fighting the disbelievers; defensive fighting; fighting those who abandon the Eid prayer, the adhan, the iqamah, or other manifest rites of Islam; and fighting the rebellious party when two groups of believers fight one another. For Allah says:

“between them. But if one of them transgresses against the other, then fight the party that transgresses until it returns to”

It is recommended that, during this prayer, he carry such weapons as will enable him to defend himself, provided they do not distract him, such as a sword or the like.

His statement, “It is recommended that he carry,” indicates that carrying weapons during the fear prayer is recommended. This is the view held by many scholars.

The correct view, however, is that carrying weapons is obligatory, because Allah commanded it, saying:

“Let a group of them stand with you, and let them take their weapons.” [al-Nisa 4:102]

And because