Question:

I live in a country where the 'Isha prayer is very late (23.40), and the Fajr prayer is very early (02.40). I have heard that it is possible to combine the Maghrib and the 'Isha prayer, if one has to get early up in the morning to go to work. Is this true? Is there any fatwa about this issue?

Fatwa:

All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger.

Allah, The Most High, set a fixed time for every prayer to be performed in, and it is not permissible to pray it earlier or delay it without a sound reason like traveling, being in a state of fear, in case of rain, hardship or difficulty like sickness and the like.

Almighty Allah says (what means): “When you have finished As-Salaat (the prayer - congregational), remember Allah standing, sitting down, and lying down on your sides, but when you are free from danger, perform As-Salaat. Verily, the prayer is enjoined on the believers at fixed hours.” [Quran 4:103]

The Prophet illustrated the beginning and the ending of the time of each prayer. So praying a given prayer, for instance, before its time will not serve instead of the prescribed prayer and it is an obligation to repeat it after its fixed time begins. The beginning of the time of Ishaa prayer is when the red twilight disappears. There is a consensus of scholars on that.

If, in any country, the red twilight is delayed even until after midnight, it is still incumbent upon Muslims in such country to perform the prayer on its specific time as long as this juristic time is evident to them. It is not permissible for the people of that country to combine Maghrib and Ishaa prayers because of the delay of the disappearance of the red twilight or because of the night being short.

Allah knows best.

Fatwa answered by: The Fatwa Center at Islamweb