al-Dāraqutnī (1): “And this (2) is an authentic chain of transmission.”
He then cited (3) a report through Abū Bakr al-Naysābūrī, from ‘Abbās al-Dūrī, who said: Abū Nu‘aym informed us; al-‘Alā’ ibn Zuhayr narrated to us; ‘Abd al-Rahmān ibn al-Aswad narrated to me, from ‘Ā’isha, that she travelled with the Messenger of Allah (4), peace and blessings be upon him, from Medina to Mecca to perform ‘umrah. When she reached Mecca, she said: “O Messenger of Allah, may my father and mother be sacrificed for you! I shortened my prayers and prayed them in full, and I fasted and refrained from fasting.” He said: “You have done well, ‘Ā’isha.”
I heard Shaykh al-Islām Ibn Taymiyya say (5): This hadith is a fabrication attributed to ‘Ā’isha. ‘Ā’isha would never have prayed differently from the Prophet (6), peace and blessings be upon him, and the rest of the Companions—watching them shorten their prayers, then praying in full on her own without any reason to do so. How could she, when she herself said:
(1) In al-Sunan, following (2298).
(2) Sād and Jīm read: hādhā (“this”), without the preceding wāw (“and”).
(3) (3:142). Also recorded by al-Nasā’ī in al-Mujtabā (1456) and al-Kubrā (1927), al-Tahāwī in Mushkil al-Āthār (4258), and al-Dāraqutnī (2294), all through ‘Abd al-Rahmān ibn al-Aswad, from ‘Ā’isha. Al-Dāraqutnī (2293) recorded it through ‘Abd al-Rahmān ibn al-Aswad, from his father, from ‘Ā’isha; al-Bayhaqī (3:142) also recorded this version. Al-Dāraqutnī said after (2294): “The first version is connected (that is, from ‘Abd al-Rahmān, from his father, from ‘Ā’isha), and its chain is hasan (good). ‘Abd al-Rahmān was a contemporary of ‘Ā’isha and visited her when he was approaching puberty.” However, in his al-‘Ilal (3607), he said: “The mursal version is more likely to be correct”—that is, without al-Aswad as an intermediary. Abū Bakr al-Naysābūrī held the same view, as reported by al-Bayhaqī (3:142).
(4) Jīm reads: ma‘a al-nabī (“with the Prophet”).
(5) A similar statement has already been cited. See Majmū‘ al-Fatāwā (24:152–153).
(6) Kāf and ‘Ayn read: rasūl Allāh (“the Messenger of Allah”).