When I travel I shorten and combine my prayers. May I ask whether on a journey which involves stop-over at different places, can one treat these stops as travel and combine Asr with Dhuhr if one is certain that one would arrive at one's base well before Maghrib? If on a travel I offer Friday prayer, can I combine Asr with it?
Some people think that the shortening and combining of prayers always go hand in hand, suggesting that once you shorten your prayers when traveling, you must combine them, and if you combine prayers, then you offer them in the shortened version. This is a mistaken notion. These are two separate concessions which are used together when the conditions allowing each are met at the same time.
The combination of prayers means that the two prayers of Dhuhr and Asr are offered at the same time, either advancing Asr to the time of Dhuhr in what we may call, "advance combination," or "delaying combination." The same applies to the prayers of Maghrib and Isha.
This concession is given in the case of travel and illness. It applies particularly in times of rain, when Maghrib and Isha are combined so that people do not have to come to the mosque twice on a rainy night.
Having said that, I should also add that the Prophet combined prayers at a time when there was no rain, and when he was neither traveling nor ill. He made it clear that this he did in order to give his followers a chance to do their prayers without affliction. Scholars agree that this concession of combining prayers when [one] is in one's home town may be practiced, provided there is need for it and it does not become a habit.
For example, if you are so tired when you arrive home one day that the only thing you want to do is to go to sleep, and you fear that if you sleep, you may miss your Asr prayer, then it is permissible to combine it with Dhuhr before you go to sleep. Similarly, you may use this concession if you have to go to a business meeting and you fear that there may be no chance for you to offer your Asr prayer on time. In winter, when the days are so short, you may want to go to shopping in a place where there are no mosques, and you fear that by the time you come home Maghrib would be due. All these are real life situations when combining prayers makes matters much more comfortable.
We avail ourselves of the concession and combine two prayers at one time, without shortening them.
Prayers may be shortened if one is traveling. The concession starts when one leaves the area of his home town and ends when he is back in that area. Whatever stop-over one may make are part of the travel. Besides, when one arrives at one's destination, he continues to avail himself of the concession to shorten one's prayers until he goes back home, provided that one does not intend to settle down. So a travel of two weeks is just the type during which prayers may be shortened.
On such travels, prayers may also be combined. If one is returning home and Dhuhr prayer falls due, he may offer both Dhuhr and Asr prayer even though he expected to arrive at his destination before Asr is due. He need not repeat that prayer when he arrives. If during one's travel, one offers Friday prayer, he may combine Asr with it, according to some scholars. Others do not agree to this, saying that no prayer may be combined with Friday prayer. I am more inclined to the first view which allows such combination.
• Prayers: Commandment making it obligatory
You have mentioned in the past that "we are commanded by Allah to offer five separate prayers everyday". Could you please let me know where can I find this commandment?
The order to attend to prayers is mentioned frequently in the Qur'an, either directly or in reference to the qualities of believers. There is no question about prayer being an essential obligation of every believer. There is a famous Hadith which tells us that there are five pillars upon which the structure of Islam is built. These are: The declaration of the Oneness of Allah and the fact that Muhammad, peace be upon him, was His messenger, regular attention to prayer, payment of zakah, fasting in Ramadhan, and pilgrimage to the Ka'aba, for those who are able to undertake the journey. These are general commandments that tell us that we must offer prayer.
As you know, we learn many of the details of our religion from the Prophet. When he commands us to do something, it is commandment of Allah relayed to us by the Prophet. It is common knowledge that no one may be a Muslim unless he declares that he believes in Oneness of Allah and that Muhammad, peace be upon him, is Allah's messenger. The second part of this declaration means that Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, was the person through whom Allah made clear to us His message and what He wants us to do or avoid. Allah tells us in the Qur'an: "Whatever the messenger bids you, fulfill it and whatever he forbids you, refrain from it" (59;7). This is a statement which applies to everything that the Prophet tells us. Therefore, when the Prophet says to us: "Pray as you have seen me pray", then we must follow his example and pray in the same manner as he offered his prayer. If anyone offers prayer in a different fashion, it will not be accepted from him. He will not be a Muslim because he chooses for himself a method of praying other than that taught by the Prophet. He cannot protest that the Qur'an does not tell us how to pray exactly, but simply mentions that we must offer prayers.
When the Prophet came back from his night journey from Jerusalem and his Ascension to heaven, he told his companions that Allah has made it obligatory to all Muslims to offer five prayers everyday.
There are numerous instances where the Prophet mentions that Muslims have to pray five times daily. A Bedouin came to him and asked: "Messenger of Allah, tell me what Allah has made obligatory to me of prayer?" The Prophet answered: "The five daily prayers, unless you wish to volunteer more." This Hadith is related by Al-Bukhari. This is also the Hadith which tells us that when the Prophet sent his companion Mu'ath ibn Jabal as governor of Yemen, he walked with him and spoke to him about the conduct of his duty.
The Prophet told him to explain to the people of Yemen that Allah wants them to believe in Him alone as the only deity in the Universe and to believe in Muhammad, peace be upon him, as Allah's messenger. The Prophet then told him: "When they have accepted this from you, tell them that Allah has made it obligatory to them to offer five prayers everyday."
In addition to this, there is the fact that ever since the time of the Prophet, Muslims offer five daily prayers and there is no disagreement among the companions of the Prophet, or their successors, or scholars in any generation since then, that these five are obligatory prayers. This has become so famous and well-known that it is one of the basic elements of Islam "that are essentially known to all people." The general rule is that anyone who denies such a matter which is essentially known to all people is a disbeliever.
• Prayers: Concentration in prayer
Although I attend to my prayers regularly, I am seldom able to concentrate properly. Often I have doubts about the activities and movements included in the prayer. What I would like to know is whether my prayer is valid.
Every one who starts prayers should concentrate fully on the task in hand. He should always think of what he is reading or reciting or doing. If he reflects on the meaning of what he says, he is bound to find it easier to concentrate on his prayers. If you have learned certain surahs of the Qur'an without understanding them, you better try to learn the meaning of each verse so that you can help your concentration by thinking of the meaning. However, if one nevertheless is distracted or suffers a lapse of concentration which results in a confusion in his mind about what stage he has reached in his prayers, there is an easy solution to this problem. If, for example, you doubt whether you have completed two or three rak'ahs, then you are certain that you have done two rak'ahs but you are doubtful about the third one. Therefore, you continue your prayer on the basis of that which you are certain, i.e. two rak'ahs, and then just before you finish your prayer after you have completed your Tashahhud you prostrate twice in compensation for forgetfulness. You then finish your prayer normally. If you nevertheless omit to do these two prostrations, your prayer is still valid.
Distraction in prayer happens often, especially when one is preoccupied with immediate problems of his daily life. The Prophet was once leading his companions in a congregational prayer when he finished it after completing two rak'ahs instead of four. One of his companions questioned him about this and when he realized what has happened, he ordered his companions to complete their prayers. No one had to start his prayers afresh. That shows that despite the distraction, the prayer is valid.