May the peace, mercy and blessing of Allah be upon you. I am a young woman who works at a hospital. The nature of my job requires me to be at work from the time of the `asr, maghrib and `isha prayers. It is difficult there to leave my work and go to pray, and there is no one there to fill in for me. Would it be permissible for me to combine the dhuhr and `asr prayers before I go to work and to combine the maghrib and `isha prayers when I get home from work?

Note that there are men there who could see me when I go and pray.

Please allow me the benefit of your advice. Thank you.

Praise be to Allah, and may peace and blessing be upon the Messenger of Allah. To proceed:

Although praying on time might sometimes be hard, hopefully combining prayers would be acceptable in order to eliminate a great difficulty, as long as you do not make it a habit, because the basic rule is that the formal prayer (salat) {is enjoined on the believers at fixed hours.}[An-Nisa` 4: 103].

The essential point in the issue of the permissibility of combining the prayers to eliminate a great difficulty—as long as one does not make it a habit—is the hadith related by Ibn `Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him) in Sahih Muslim, "The Messenger of Allah (may Allah exalt his mention and grant him peace) combined the dhuhr and the `asr prayers, [as well as] the maghrib and the `isha prayers in Madina, without fear [of enemy attack] or rain. So, Ibn `Abbas was asked about that and he said, `He wanted not to create difficulty for his nation.`"

My advice is to strive to perform the formal prayer on time. It does not harm you that men see you while you are praying, though you should try hard to remain out of sight as much as possible. If you fear harm to your person or your patients or combined difficulty, as long as you do not make this a habit ever, for in that case, it would not be permissible at all.

If you try really hard to perform the prayers on time, Allah will make you a way out. He will make things easier on you, but show Him from yourself a true intention and firm determination and acceptance to meet Him and converse with Him privately, you will find "sweetness" in the effort. Sacrifice and endure some difficulty, and afterwards, you will find ease in obedience and the "sweetness" will remain.