348 – ʿĀʾishah (Allah be pleased with her) reported: “The Prophet ﷺ would shorten the prayer when traveling, yet at times perform it in full; he would fast, and he would also break his fast.” Narrated by al-Dāraqutnī. All of its transmitters are trustworthy, but the report is defective. The reliably preserved version from ʿĀʾishah concerns her own practice, and she said, “It does not cause me any hardship.” Related by al-Bayhaqī. ⦗1⦘

Hadith grading
• The report is weak. Ibn al-Qayyim said, “This hadith is not authentic,” and I heard Shaykh al-Islām Ibn Taymiyyah say, “It is a fabrication against the Messenger ﷺ,” while Imām Aḥmad repudiated it.
• Al-Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Ḥajar declared in al-Talkhīṣ al-Ḥabīr that there is disagreement as to whether its chain is connected. Al-Dāraqutnī himself differed: in his Sunan he deemed the isnād sound, whereas in his ʿIlal he judged the mursal wording more plausible.
• What the two Ṣaḥīḥs establish runs contrary to this report; see Naṣb al-Rāyah 2/192.

Points derived from the hadith
1 – Taken at face value, the hadith suggests that the Prophet ﷺ would sometimes shorten the four-rakʿah prayers and at other times complete them, and that while traveling in Ramadan he would sometimes fast and sometimes break his fast. Both are concessions that he would occasionally avail himself of and at other times leave un-taken.
2 – The second version attributes this practice to ʿĀʾishah herself: she would sometimes make use of the concession and sometimes forego it, explaining that fasting and praying four rakʿahs caused her no hardship, since the usual rationale for the travel concession is the presence of hardship.