Answered by Shaykh Muhammad ibn Adam al-Kawthari
I have just joined a new company. I get about 45 minutes to an hour for lunch. I have to offer my Duhr and Asr prayers at work. Could I do my Duhr and Asr one after the other. I could offer late Duhr, (not Qada) and then do Asr right after it. I also want to clarify that I am doing this because there is one room where I can do my prayers and this room is not always available, so saying both prayers at their respective time and having a gap between the two prayers is sometimes impossible.
Yes, it would be permissible for you to combine Zuhr and Asr prayers, but only in a way that both are offered in their respected times.
This is allowed as both prayers are performed in their times, which is a condition for the validity of prayer.
Allah Most High says in the Qur’an:
“Verily prayer has been ordained upon the believers on its appropriate time”[Qur’an, 4: 103].
And Allah knows best.
Muhammad Ibn Adam
[Mufti Muhammad ibn Adam al-Kawthari is a qualified scholar, who has ijazas in all 9 major books of hadith, and a certification in ifta’ (giving fatwa) from Jami`at Darul Uloom Karachi, under world-renowned scholars such as Mufti Taqi Usmani, Mufti Rafi Usmani, and Mufti Mahmoud Usmani. He also studied for two years in Damascus, Syria, under top Damascene scholars, as part of a Master’s in Islamic Law through Azhar University (Cairo).]
[Faraz: This may be of interest:
Ibn Qudama said, in response to the hadith mentioned from Ibn Abbas (Allah be well pleased with him) that, “The Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) used to combine Zuhr and Asr, and Maghrib and Isha, without fear or rain,” that the proof against this (i.e. against understanding it with its outward purport) are the general hadiths about the timings of prayer. He said that,
“… Its is possible that he performed the first prayer towards the end of its time and the second at the beginning of its time, because `Amr ibn Dinar, who reported of this hadith, from Jabir ibn Zayd, from Ibn Abbas, said, “I believe he delayed Zuhr and hastened Asr, and he delayed Maghrib and hastened Isha…” (al-Mughni)
Imam al-Nawawi said in his al-Majmu` Sharh al-Muhadhdhab [4: 264]
(Item: The positions on combining prayers while resident, without fear, travel or rain.)
Our madhhab (i.e. the Shafi`i madhha) and the madhhab of Abu Hanifa, Malik, and Ahmad, and the overwhelming majority of the scholars is that it is not valid…