rain as an excuse for omitting Jumu'ah and congregational prayers, which indicates their equality in the hardship that is considered in rulings.

Section: As for intense wind on a dark, cold night, there are two positions regarding it. One is that it permits combining. Al-Amidi said: It is more correct. This is the view of 'Umar ibn 'Abd al-'Aziz, because it is an excuse for Jumu'ah and congregational prayer, based on evidence of what Muhammad ibn al-Sabbah narrated—he said: Sufyan informed us, from Ayyub, from Nafi', from Ibn 'Umar, who said: The Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) used to have his caller call out on a rainy night or a cold night with wind: "Pray in your dwellings." Recorded by Ibn Majah (31) from Muhammad ibn al-Sabbah. The second [position] is that it does not permit it, because the hardship therein is less than the hardship in rain, so it is not valid to use analogy based on it; and because its hardship is of a different kind than the hardship of rain, and there is no governing criterion for that in which they [both] unite, so it is not valid to equate it to it.

Section: Is it permissible to combine for an individual, or for one whose route to the mosque is covered, preventing rain from reaching him, or for one who is already staying in the mosque? There are two views: One is that it is permissible, because when an excuse is found, the state of the existence of hardship and its absence are equal, like travel; and because when general necessity exists, it establishes the ruling even for those who do not have a need for it, like the salam contract, and the permissibility of keeping a dog for hunting and livestock even for one who does not need them; and because it has been narrated that the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) combined during rain, and there was nothing between his apartment and the mosque (32). The second [view] is the prohibition, because combining is for the sake of hardship, so it is restricted to the one who encounters the hardship [not the one who does not] (33), just like the concession for missing Jumu'ah and congregational prayer, which is restricted to the one who encounters hardship, not the one who does not, such as the one in the mosque or the one close to it.