The Shi'a often get attacked on the issue of 'only praying 3 times a day'. This ignorant claim unfortunately comes from so-called scholars who lack any knowledge of the different schools of Islam, and provide no evidence for any of the claim. Praying the 5 daily prayer is an obligotry duty on every muslim, but the Shi'a believe in the combination of prayers; they believe it's permissible to combine the midday prayers (i.e. dhuhr, asr) and the night prayers (i.e. Maghrib, Isha). All schools of Islam believe in this but have differing rules on this matter. For example, some believe they can only combined in times of emergency or when travelling.
When the Qur'an discusses the number of prayers per day, it mentions there to be 5 prayers but only mentions 3 different time periods. For example, in Surah Hud 11:114:
وَأَقِمِ ٱلصَّلَوٰةَ طَرَفَىِ ٱلنَّهَارِ وَزُلَفًۭا مِّنَ ٱلَّيْلِ ۚ إِنَّ ٱلْحَسَنَـٰتِ يُذْهِبْنَ ٱلسَّيِّـَٔاتِ ۚ ذَٰلِكَ ذِكْرَىٰ لِلذَّٰكِرِينَ
Establish prayer ˹O Prophet˺ at both ends of the day and in the early part of the night. Surely good deeds wipe out evil deeds. That is a reminder for the mindful.
This ayah mentions there to be a prayer at both ends of the day (2 periods) and at the night (1 period) = 3 periods in total. There is however 5 prayers, so this shows the Qur'an accounting for some prayers being combined. Another verse showing the same thing is in Surah al-'Isra 17:78:
أَقِمِ ٱلصَّلَوٰةَ لِدُلُوكِ ٱلشَّمْسِ إِلَىٰ غَسَقِ ٱلَّيْلِ وَقُرْءَانَ ٱلْفَجْرِ ۖ إِنَّ قُرْءَانَ ٱلْفَجْرِ كَانَ مَشْهُودًۭا
Observe the prayer from the decline of the sun until the darkness of the night and the dawn prayer, for certainly the dawn prayer is witnessed ˹by angels˺.
Once again, this verse demonstrates only 3 time-periods for the 5 daily prayers. This proves that there must 2 prayers which are combined as per the way the timings function from a Qur'anic prespective.
To demonstrate what the school of Ahlulbayt (as) further have to prove this argument of theirs, we cite the most authoritative Shi'a hadith book; al-Kafi, vol. 3, Book of Prayer, Ch. 9, H. 1 which states with a reliable chain:
مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ يَحْيَى عَنْ أَحْمَدَ بْنِ مُحَمَّدٍ عَنْ عَلِيِّ بْنِ الْحَكَمِ عَنْ عَبْدِ الله بْنِ بُكَيْرٍ عَنْ زُرَارَةَ عَنْ أَبِي عَبْدِ الله (عَلَيْهِ الْسَّلام) قَالَ صَلَّى رَسُولُ الله (صلّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَآلِه) بِالنَّاسِ الظُّهْرَ وَالْعَصْرَ حِينَ زَالَتِ الشَّمْسُ فِي جَمَاعَةٍ مِنْ غَيْرِ عِلَّةٍ وَصَلَّى بِهِمُ الْمَغْرِبَ وَالْعِشَاءَ الآخِرَةَ قَبْلَ سُقُوطِ الشَّفَقِ مِنْ غَيْرِ عِلَّةٍ فِي جَمَاعَةٍ وَإِنَّمَا فَعَلَ رَسُولُ الله (صلّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَآلِه) لِيَتَّسِعَ الْوَقْتُ عَلَى أُمَّتِهِ.
The Messenger of Allah performed al-Dhuhr and al-‘Asr Salah (prayers) when the sun declined (toward the west at noontime) in congregation without any reason. He also performed al-Maghrib and al-Isha’ Salah (prayer) in congregation before disappearing of al-Shafaq (redness) without any reason to do so. The Messenger of Allah did so to make it easier for his followers.
This hadith establishes for us the permissibility of combining the prayers together, and the reason behind this was to lift a burden upon the Ummah, making it easier to perform them. More narrations of these exist, such as in Tahdhib al-Ahkam, vol. 2, pg. 20 and pg. 281.
As for the evidence found in the corpus of Ahlus Sunnah, they too have narrated these same hadiths that is found in the Shi'a corpus. In fact, the famous muhaddith, Imam Muslim, has written a whole chapter on this matter in his Sahih Muslim: Joining prayers when not travelling (باب الْجَمْعِ بَيْنَ الصَّلاَتَيْنِ فِي الْحَضَرِ). He narrates 5 different hadiths which all state a similar thing: The Prophet (s) combined his prayers while not in a state of fear nor in a journey.
In fact, Imam al-Baghawi says regarding these hadiths in his Sharh al-Sunnah, vol. 4, pg. 198 - 9:
أَخْبَرَنَا عَبْدُ الْوَاحِدِ بْنُ أَحْمَدَ الْمَلِيحِيُّ، أَنا أَبُو مُحَمَّدٍ عَبْدُ الرَّحْمَنِ بْنُ أَبِي شُرَيْحٍ، أَنا أَبُو الْقَاسِمِ عَبْدُ اللَّهِ بْنُ مُحَمَّدِ بْنِ عَبْدِ الْعَزِيزِ الْبَغَوِيُّ، نَا عَلِيُّ بْنُ الْجَعْدِ، أَنا زُهَيْرٌ، عَنْ أَبِي الزُّبَيْرِ، عَنْ سَعِيدِ بْنِ جُبَيْرٍ، عَنِ ابْنِ عَبَّاسٍ، قَالَ: «صَلَّى رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلّم الظهر والعصر جميعا بالمدينة من غير خوف ولا سفر»، قال أبو الزبير: فقلت لسعيد بن جبير: لم فعله؟ قال: سألت ابن عباس كما سألتني، فقال: لئلا يحرج أحد من أمته هذا حديث صحيح، أخرجه مسلم، عن أحمد بن يونس، عن زهير قال رحمه الله: هذا الحديث يدل على جواز الجمع بلا عذر، لأنه جعل العلة أن لا تحرج أمته، وقد قال به قليل من أهل الحديث، وحكي عن ابن سيرين، أنه كان لا يرى بأسا بالجمع بين الصلاتين إذا كانت حاجة أو شيء، ما لم يتخذه عادة. وذهب أكثر العلماء إلى أن الجمع بغير عذر لا يجوز
Ibn 'Abbas reported: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) observed the noon and afternoon prayers together in Medina without being in a state of fear or in a state of journey. (Abu Zubair said: I asked Sa'id [one of the narrators] why he did that. He said: I asked Ibn 'Abbas as you have asked me, and he replied that he [the Holy Prophet] wanted that no one among his Ummah should be put to [unnecessary] hardship. He (al-Baghawi) said: This hadith is evidence about the permissibility of combining the prayers without any reason, because in this hadith the justification to combine them was that he wanted that no one among his Ummah should be put to unnecessary hardship. A small group from Ahlul-Hadith held this opinion.
In conclusion, both the Sunni and Shia hadith attest to the Prophet (s) combining his prayers without any legitimate reason, following the sunnah of Rasulullah (s) leads us to conclude that we should combine our prayers, and even some of the Sunni jurists have held this opinion so it is considered a legitimate view that can be held by Ahlus Sunnah. The reason for its permissibility as the hadiths state, it was to lift unnecessary hardships for the Ummah.
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