Can I Combine Prayers Due to IBS and Pregnancy Fatigue?

Answered by Mawlana Ilyas Patel

Question

I’d like to ask about combining prayers. I have IBS, which causes frequent bathroom visits, especially before prayers, taking about 30 minutes, and exhausting me.

I’m pregnant, increasing bladder pressure and making prayer preparation—using the bathroom and ablution—mentally and physically tiring.

Previously, my menstrual cycle gave me a prayer break, but now I don’t.

Answer

In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate

I pray you are in good faith and health. Thank you for your question. May Allah make your pregnancy easy and smooth, and may you give birth to a healthy and righteous child. Amin.

In your situation, it is permissible to follow the Hanbali school and combine prayers. The Hanafi school does not generally permit combining prayers, but scholars allow following another school, so you may follow the Hanbali school.

One. State in the opening sentence: “In your situation, it is permissible to follow the Hanbali school and combine prayers,” and in one follow-up sentence, explain that the Hanafi school does not generally permit combining, but scholars allow following another school in genuine hardship.

Join between the Dhur and Asr, or between the Maghrib and Isha, whether in time for the first prayer of each of these two pairs, or in the time of the second prayer of each of them.

Hanafi School

In the Hanafi school, even with the hardship of a difficult pregnancy and illness, it is only permissible to combine the two prayers in form, not in practice and reality.

For example, to combine Dhuhr and Asr, you would perform Dhuhr at the very end of its time—leaving enough time to pray its sunnah—and then perform Asr immediately once its time begins.

The same applies for Maghrib and Isha: perform Maghrib just before its time ends, then pray Isha right after its time starts.

Hanbali School

It is a necessary condition for the permissibility of joining them that the person be:

1) a traveler on a trip in which shortening prayers is permissible;

2) a sick person for whom not to join prayers would be a hardship;

3) a woman who is nursing an infant, or who has chronic vaginal discharge, since she is permitted to join prayers to obviate the hardship of purification for every single prayer.

4) someone with an excuse similar to the woman with chronic discharge, such as a person unable to prevent intermittent drops of urine coming from him

5) or someone who fears for himself, his property, or his reputation, or who fears harm in earning his living if he does not join prayers: the latter giving leeway to workers for whom it is impossible to leave their work. [Al-Umda Fil al-Fiqh Ala Madhabi Ahmad Ibn Hanbal]

In hardship, take Allah’s ease, worship in a way that maintains your health, dignity, and consistency, not exhausting you.

Allah, make our affairs easy, accept our worship, and grant us relief and strength. Amin.

And Allah knows best.

[Mawlana] Ilyas Patel

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Mawlana Ilyas Patel has received traditional education in various countries. He started his schooling in the UK and completed his hifz of the Quran in India. After that, he joined an Islamic seminary in the UK, where he studied secular and Aalimiyya sciences. Later, he traveled to Karachi, Pakistan, and other Middle Eastern countries to further his education. Mawlana has served as an Imam in the Republic of Ireland for several years and taught the Quran and other Islamic sciences to both children and adults. He also worked as a teacher and librarian at a local Islamic seminary in the UK for 12 years. Presently, he lives in the UK with his wife and is interested in books and gardening.