this statement shows that combining for these causes is even more warranted. It is a subtle form of practical guidance: when combining removes the hardship that exists despite the absence of fear, rain, or travel, then removing the hardship that actually results from any of these is even more deserving, and combining for them is preferable to combining for other reasons. (1)
Numerous reports attest to combining because of rain among the Companions and Successors. (2) Nāfiʿ relates that ʿAbd Allāh b. ʿUmar (may Allah be pleased with them) would join the prayer with the governors whenever they combined Maghrib and ʿIshāʾ on account of rain. (3)
Hishām b. ʿUrwah reports that his father ʿUrwah, Saʿīd b. al-Musayyab, and Abū Bakr b. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. al-Ḥārith b. Hishām al-Makhzūmī used to combine Maghrib and ʿIshāʾ on a rainy night whenever the prayers were joined, and they voiced no objection to it. (4)