The authentic collections relate that the ahl al-ṣuffa (the People of the Bench) used to gather firewood, sell it, and with the proceeds feed the poor. The distance they covered in collecting that wood may well have exceeded the distance mentioned in Anas’s report.

At most, then, the ḥadīth can be taken to mark the point at which the shortening of the four-rakʿah prayer first becomes permissible, not the furthest limit or end of a journey. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ in another context defined travel by setting a boundary when he required a woman to be accompanied by a maḥram (an unmarriageable male guardian); its implicit meaning is that any distance shorter than that boundary is still taken into account. Travel, therefore, is a notion to which diverse opinions have been attached without coalescing around a single, precise definition—just as the jurists restricted every “slave” mentioned in the expiations to a “believing slave,” following the verse on accidental killing. The same line of reasoning applies here. Whenever we are able to adhere to the guidance of our scholars and imams, that adherence is a safeguard, and the vast majority of them hold this view, having exerted themselves fully in seeking the pleasure of Allah Most High.

It is hazardous to accustom students to defy the rulings of the imams, for whole groups have drifted away from worship once the jurisprudence of the imams lost weight in their eyes. By Allah, the good lies in following our imams. They have laid bare the evidences on which these rulings rest, and following them in this matter is nothing like imitating priests and monks who declare things lawful or unlawful at whim. Rather, we must raise our sons and brothers to regard any departure from what the early generations agreed upon as a grave matter, and—in issues on which the early scholars differed—to seek the soundest position, the one most supported by evidence, never stepping outside either their consensus or their recognized divergences. Consequently, when we do make a choice, we choose only from their jurisprudence whose proofs are clear and whose evidences are manifest. Not every disagreement is worthy of consideration, so let no one say, “So-and-so and so-and-so held that no specific distance is required.” The prudent course is to return to the comprehensive statements of the imams, statements founded on caution and rectitude. Allah knows best and is most wise.