Re: Want to pray 3 times a day? Well here’s a fatwa!!!
I think irrespective of what the Turkish fatwa is, there is a misconception here atleast in my opinion. Muslims have five obligatory salat and that is the norm for us. However we also have the Rukhsa of combining Duhr/Asr and Maghrib/Isha given you are in a situation where it permits you or you really have a need for it. In any case you are still performing five different salats not three salats, what you are doing is performing them in three different times instead of five (one salat per one time). What would be wrong is that you try to make it a norm to pray five salats at three different times when you do not have any pressing need for it. These conveniences or Rukhsa are given to us for exceptional or non-routine situations not normal routine. This is the main differentiating factor. For example, I epecially in winter months in USA (since the days are short and the times of prayers are close) sometimes conbine Duhr/Asr because there are instances at work for me where I know I will miss the Asr prayer, but this is not the norm for me. If I know I can make Asr on its given time or within the given time period then I opt not to combine.
A muslim should not strive to change the norm but try to achieve it and when its difficult then make use of these Rukhsa’s. If the Turkish fatwa is intended to establish this as a norm then it is wrong.