the view held by the vast majority of scholars—contrary to the Ḥanafīs, who re-interpret the texts as allowing only a “formal combination,” that is, delaying ẓuhr until just before the time of ʿaṣr, and likewise delaying maghrib until the approach of ʿishāʾ. The majority rebut this interpretation from several angles:

First: it contradicts the apparent meaning of “combining.”

Second: the very purpose for which the concession was legislated is ease and the removal of hardship, as the wording reported by Muslim makes explicit; whereas the so-called formal combination itself entails hardship, as is self-evident.

Third: some ḥadiths on combining prayers flatly invalidate their claim, such as the report of Anas ibn Mālik that states, “He postponed ẓuhr until the beginning of ʿaṣr and then performed the two together.” Muslim recorded it (2/151) and others as well.

Fourth: it is also disproved by the practice of combining by advancing the later prayer, which this very ḥadith of Muʿādh mentions: “When he set out after the sun had passed the meridian, he would bring ʿaṣr forward and perform it together with ẓuhr.” Many narrations convey this meaning, as noted earlier.

2 – Just as combining by delaying is permissible, so too is combining by advancing. This was the position of Imām al-Shāfiʿī in al-Umm (1/67), and likewise of Aḥmad and Isḥāq, as al-Tirmidhī (2/441) reports.

3 – A traveller may combine the prayers while encamped just as he may combine while on the move. After citing the ḥadith through Mālik, Imām al-Shāfiʿī says in al-Umm: “This occurred while he was stationary, not travelling, because his statement ‘he went in, then came out’ can only describe someone who is encamped. Therefore a traveller may combine whether he is stationary or on the march.”

I say: In light of this explicit text, no weight should be given to the words of Ibn al-Qayyim in Zād (1/189): “It was not part of his ﷺ practice to combine while mounted during a journey, as many people do today, nor to combine while encamped either.”