Sheikh Al-Suqair Makeup & Maghrib Prayer Combination
- A recent religious ruling addresses the permissibility of combining Maghrib (sunset) and Isha (evening) prayers for women facing financial burdens related to maintaining ritual purity during celebratory events.
- Sheikh Sami Al-Suqair, a member of the Council of Senior Scholars in Saudi Arabia, discussed the issue during a lecture at the Al-Rajhi Mosque in Riyadh.According to a...
- Sheikh Al-Suqair highlighted a common concern: women spending important amounts on beauty and adornment, and subsequently worrying about maintaining ablution throughout lengthy events.
Islamic Ruling on Combining Prayers for Women and Financial Hardship
Table of Contents
A recent religious ruling addresses the permissibility of combining Maghrib (sunset) and Isha (evening) prayers for women facing financial burdens related to maintaining ritual purity during celebratory events.
Sheikh Al-suqair’s Ruling
Sheikh Sami Al-Suqair, a member of the Council of Senior Scholars in Saudi Arabia, discussed the issue during a lecture at the Al-Rajhi Mosque in Riyadh.According to a report by Al-Marsad newspaper on November 3, 2024, the ruling centers on situations where a woman’s expenses for adornment during marriage occasions create a practical difficulty in maintaining wudu (ablution).
Sheikh Al-Suqair highlighted a common concern: women spending important amounts on beauty and adornment, and subsequently worrying about maintaining ablution throughout lengthy events. He explained that the Prophet Muhammad combined the noon and afternoon prayers, and sunset and evening prayers, not due to necessity like fear or rain, but to ease burdens on his followers.
The Prophet’s Example and Ibn Abbas’ Explanation
The Sheikh referenced a question posed to Ibn Abbas, a prominent narrator of hadith (sayings and actions of the prophet Muhammad), regarding the Prophet’s practice of combining prayers. Ibn Abbas explained that the Prophet did so to avoid causing hardship to his community. This precedent, Al-Suqair argued, justifies allowing prayer combinations when genuine difficulty exists.
Specifically, the ruling addresses the financial strain on women who must repeatedly renew their ablution and reapply makeup after each prayer during events. The Sheikh posited that requiring a woman to constantly re-adorn herself would create an needless financial cost.
Conditions for Permissibility
Sheikh Al-Suqair clarified that combining prayers is permissible in such cases, but only as a temporary necessity. he emphasized that this should not become a regular practice. The ruling is intended to provide relief in situations where maintaining ablution and appearance presents a genuine hardship, not to encourage habitual prayer combination.