Combining two intentions in our Ibaadaat

by Asma bint Shameem Ibaadaat are of two kinds:

A) Those you can combine.

B) And those you can not combine.

🔺A) The Ibaadaat you can combine:

You can combine two (or more) intentions for one act of ibaadah in those situations where one of the two acts of worship is NONSPECIFIC, meaning it's not intended for its own sake.

Some examples of nonspecific prayers are: Tahiyyatul masjid and tahiyyatul wudhu (the two rakaat following wudhu)

So if you want to pray ANY of your prayers, you can combine this with the intention of praying TAHIYYATUL WUDHU with it as well.

That's because the purpose of the tahiyyatul wudhu is to pray straight after making wudhu, whether it's the fardh prayer, nafil prayer or any other prayer.

Similarly, the purpose of TAHIYYATUL MASJID is to offer two rakaat prayer as a greeting to the masjid before we sit down.

And it can be combined with ANY prayer with our intention.

So we could combine the intention of two rakaat nafl on entering the masjid with ANY prayer, whether it’s the sunnah prayer or the fardh.

🍃Shaykh Khaalid al-Mushayqih said:

“Tahiyyatul Masjid” or “Greeting the masjid” is not a prayer that is intended for its own sake, so it may be combined with another prayer, such as the regular Sunnah prayer.

So if you enter the masjid to pray Dhuhr, then you can pray two rak‘ahs with the intention of the regular Sunnah prayer and with the intention of greeting the masjid.

If you intend to greet the masjid and to offer the regular Sunnah prayer, you will attain the reward of two prayers in two rak‘ahs.

If you do wudoo’ and come to the masjid with the intention of offering the regular Sunnah prayer AND greeting the masjid AND praying the two rak‘ahs following wudoo’, then you will attain the REWARD of THREE prayers in two rak‘ahs.

This is one of the benefits of forming the intention.

Similarly, if a person does wudoo’ for Duhaa, then prays two rak‘ahs, intending them to be the two rak‘ahs following wudoo’ and the two rak‘ahs of Duhaa, he will attain the reward of TWO prayers in TWO rak‘ahs."

(al-‘Aqd ath-Thameen (p. 161).

🔺 *B) The kind of ibaadaat that are NOT ALLOWED to be combined:

Those ibaadaat that are SPECIFIC or INDEPENDENT of other acts of ibaadaat are NOT allowed to be combined.*

🍃 Shaykh Ibn Uthaymeen gave an example of that.

He said:

"If a man missed the Sunnah prayer of Fajr, until the sun rose and the time for Duhaa prayer came.

In this case, the Sunnah of Fajr can NOT suffice for Duhaa prayer, and Duhaa can NOT suffice for the Sunnah of Fajr, and they can NOT be combined either, because the Sunnah of Fajr is INDEPENDENT and the Sunnah of Duhaa is SEPARATE and INDEPENDENT.

Doing one of them does not suffice for the other.

Similarly, if one of them is CONNECTED to the one that came before it, then they cannot be combined.

If someone were to say: I want to form the intention to combine the OBLIGATORY prayer of Fajr and the regular SUNNAH of Fajr, we say:

That is NOT VALID, because the regular Sunnah prayer is CONNECTED to the (obligatory) prayer, so doing one of them does not suffice for the other."

🍃 And he said:

"A similar example is the Sunnah prayer following Tawaaf and the Sunnah prayer of Fajr.

For example, if a person finishes his Tawaaf after the adhaan for Fajr prayer and before the iqaamah, and he intends to combine the Sunnah prayer of Tawaaf with the Sunnah prayer of Fajr, this is not valid,

That’s because doing one of them does not suffice for the other, because the SUNNAH of TAWAAF is to be intended for its OWN SAKE, and the SUNNAH of FAJR is to be intended FOR ITS OWN SAKE."

(Liqaa’aat al-Baab al-Maftooh)

🌷 Another example would be combining the intentions for FASTING.

If someone wants to make up their fardh fast that they missed in Ramadhaan, on Monday and Thursday, that is perfectly fine and allowed because fasting on Monday and Thursday is a NONSPECIFIC fasting.

And if they want to make up their fardh fasts on these two days, with two intentions, (one for making up the fardh, the other to follow the sunnah of fasting on Monday and Thursday), they get DOUBLE rewards.

Similarly if they have their fardh Ramadhaan fasts left to make you, they CAN COMBINE the intention to make up their fardh Ramadhaan fasts with the fasts of Dhul-Hijjah or Ashooraa etc.

That’s because fasting in the first nine days of Dhul-Hijjah is a NONSPECIFIC fast.

BUT one can NOT combine fasting of their “make up fardh days” with the sunnah fasting of the six days of shawwaal.

Why?

Because making up your fardh fasts is INDEPENDENT and SPECIFIC and fasting the six days of shawwaal is ”ALSO” INDEPENDENT and SPECIFIC.

Shaikh Ibn Uthaymeen explains:

“If a person fasts the day of ‘Arafah or the day of ‘Ashoora’, and he still owes fasts from Ramadhaan, his fast will be valid, but if he intended to fast that day to make up for a missed Ramadhaan fast, he will have two rewards: the reward of the day of ‘Arafah or the day of ‘Ashoora’, and the reward for making up the missed fast.

This applies to voluntary fasts in general, that have nothing to do with Ramadhaan.

But with regard to the six days of Shawwaal, they are connected to Ramadhaan, and can only be done after making it up.

If a person fasts these days before making up missed Ramadhaan fasts, he will not attain the reward for them, because the Prophet Sal Allaahu Alaiyhi wa Sallam

said:

“Whoever fasts Ramadhaan then follows it with six days of Shawwaal, it will be as if he fasted for a lifetime.”

And it is well known that if a person owes missed fasts, then he cannot be regarded as having fasted Ramadhaan until he completes the days that he owes.”

(Fataawa as-Siyaam (438)

And Allah knows best.