In places where the time of salat isha (night prayer) does not start or starts but there is very little time, when will the night prayer be performed?

I would like to know if is it correct to pray maghrib with ‘isha togheter , just for the reason that we don’t have enough time for sleep to wake up for fajr coz here in Europe the time between ‘isha and fajr is so short ( ex: ‘isha is after 11:00 midnight and fajr at 3: 00Am ) . Does our Imam is it right in calling out the people for “isha with magrib togheter ? Please kindly clarify this for me . Jzakalla khair

Dear Brother / Sister,

The explanation of the Religious Affairs High Council is given below as a summary – technical terms were omitted because they are not understood easily:

Regions where the day or the night does not appear

Since waqt (time) is a necessary condition and reason of salat (prayer), there are some scholars who hold the view that in places where one or two of the times for prayer does not appear, those prayers are not fard. However, most of the Islamic scholars say that although time is a necessary condition and reason of prayer, the main reason is divine command. Due to the divine command, all of the Muslims are obliged to perform prayers 5 times a day (24 hours). Even if in some regions in the world, some waqts do not appear, and in the regions near the poles, the sun does not rise for days or even for months, a day is 24 hours and the date changes in accordance with it. Therefore, if the time of a prayer does not appear in a region or cannot be determined exactly, prayers are performed by estimating (taqdir).  

When Hazrat Prophet said that Dajjal would stay on the earth for 40 days in the hadith known as Dajjal hadith and that one day of those 40 days would be like one year, another day would be like one month, another like one week and the others would be like ordinary days, the companions asked if it would be enough to perform prayers of one day in those long days. Thereupon, Hazrat Prophet said that it would not be enough and that the prayer times should be estimated.  (Muslim, Kitabu'l-Fitan wa Ashratu's-Sâat, 20).

That hadith clearly shows that the fact that the time of prayer does not appear will not annul the prayer and that in regions and at times when the time of prayer does not appear, prayers should be performed by estimating.  

When the time of isha (night) prayer starts very late and the working people have difficulty, then the prayers of maghrib (evening) and isha (night) can be combined and performed at the time of evening prayer.

It is mentioned in sound (sahih) hadiths that Hazrat Prophet (pbuh) combined zuhr (noon) and asr (afternoon) prayers and evening and night prayers with jam taqdim (early combination) and jam ta’khir (late combination) in extraordinary situations like traveling, rain, mud, etc (Bukhari, Taqsiru's-Salat, 15; Muslim, Salatu'l-Musafirin, 5-6; Tirmidhi, Salat, 282; Abu Dawud, Salat, 274).

Abdullah b. Abbas reported that the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) combined noon and afternoon prayers, and evening and night prayers in Madinah without any compulsory reason like fear or rain to show that there was no trouble for his umma Rasulullah (Muslim, Salatu'l-Musafirin, 6; Tirmidhi, Salat, 26; Abu Dawud, Salat, 274; Ahmad, Musnad, I/223, 251, 283, 346, 354, H.No:1953, 2265, 2557, 3235, 3323).

It is accepted with some small differences in all the sects except Hanafi that noon and afternoon prayers and evening and night prayers can be performed with jam taqdim and jam ta’khir in extraordinary situations like traveling, illness, rain, snow, sleet, fear (Shirbini, Mughni'l-Muhtaj, I/271 et al.; Shirazi, al-Muhazzab, I/104; Ibn Qudama, Mughni, 2/112; Dardir, ash-Sharhu'l-Kabir, I/368; Ibn Hazm, al-Muhalla, III/165-166).

It should be accepted that in places where dusk disappears very late, the difficulty and trouble that is faced while waiting the dusk to disappear is much harder than the difficulties for which mujtahids permitted the combination (jam) of prayers. Since the aim of combining prayers is to eliminate the difficulty, Muslims living in those regions may combine the prayers when necessary.

Accordingly, those who do not have any difficulty can pray at the time stated in calendars. Those who have difficulty can combine the evening and night prayer. 

In addition, it is necessary to show respect to people who perform prayers in compliance with the applications accepted by the majority of Muslims.

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