Assalamu Alaykum
Here is a question posed to Shaykh Albani (may Allah have mercy upon him) about the permissibility of combining the prayer in the Masjid behind the Imam due to severely cold weather.
Question:
“Noble Shaykh, the weather here, as you know, is cold. Some of the Imams combine the prayer, is it permissible to combine in this situation?”
Answer:
“If the cold is severe and the people find it a hardship to attend the next prayer in the Masjid, then it is permissible to remove the difficulty from this nation.”
Questioner: “However, with us the Imam of the Masjid opposes all of those who pray [at the Masjid]; and he does not combine the prayer, even in the previous years when there was a great amount of rain he did not combine. Those who pray [at the Masjid] leave the Masjid, and each person goes to their home or to another Masjid. But the Imam does not take into consideration the statements of any of the people, regardless of who it is.”
Shaykh Albani: “Ok. If one wants to combine the prayer [under these circumstances], then he should pray in another Masjid.”
Questioner: “We should leave this Imām [i.e. and go to another Masjid that combines]?”
Shaykh Albani: “Yes…”
More verdicts on this topic to come – insha Allaah.
Next: Shaykh Ibn al-Uthaymeen holds that it is permissible to join the prayer in the Masjid due to severe cold, if it is accompanied by strong winds.
Hassan Somali