His statement, “The shortening of a four-unit prayer has been prescribed for him,” indicates that, in the author’s view, shortening the prayer is a sunnah. This is a matter of scholarly disagreement. According to what the author says, if a traveller performs the prayer in full, he is not sinful, nor is his action described as disliked, because abandoning a sunnah does not necessarily entail falling into something disliked. Thus, if a person does not raise his hands in prayer when bowing, he has not done anything disliked.

This is a principle: abandoning what is recommended does not necessarily entail doing what is disliked.

Some scholars hold that performing the prayer in full is disliked, because it contradicts the Prophet’s constant and unvarying guidance. The Messenger of Allah, may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him, never performed the prayer in full while travelling, and he said: “Pray as you have seen me pray.” (1) This was the view preferred by Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah, may Allah have mercy on him, and it is a strong view—indeed, perhaps the strongest of the opinions.

Other scholars hold that shortening the prayer is obligatory, and that one who performs it in full is sinful.

Their evidence is as follows:

1. The hadith of Aishah, may Allah be pleased with her, who said: “Prayer was first prescribed as two units; then the resident’s prayer was increased, while the traveller’s prayer was retained in its original prescribed form.” (2) This is the statement of a Companion who knew the ruling and understood the implications of the wording; moreover, she explicitly stated that the two units are the obligatory prayer of the traveller.

2. The Prophet’s statement: “Pray as you have seen me pray.” (3) This applies just as