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His practice was to delay the Dhuhr prayer until the time of ‘Asr if he set out before the sun passed its zenith. He would then dismount and combine the two prayers. If the sun had passed its zenith before he set out, he would pray Dhuhr and then mount (1). When pressed to travel quickly, he would delay Maghrib so as to combine it with ‘Ishā’ at the time of ‘Ishā’ (2).
It has also been reported that, during the expedition to Tabūk, he would (3) combine Dhuhr and ‘Asr if the sun passed its zenith before he set out. If he set out before the sun passed its zenith, he would delay Dhuhr until he stopped for ‘Asr, then pray both together. He would do likewise with Maghrib and ‘Ishā’. However, scholars differed over this hadith: some graded it authentic, others sound, while others criticized it and deemed it fabricated, as al-Hākim did. Its chain of transmission meets the criteria of the Sahīh, yet a curious defect was alleged against it. Al-Hākim said (4):
“We were told by
(1) Recorded by al-Bukhārī (1111, 1112) and Muslim (704), from Anas ibn Mālik.
(2) Recorded by al-Bukhārī (1091, 1092), from ‘Abd Allāh ibn ‘Umar.
(3) Sād reads: “Wa-qad ruwiya annahu fī ghazwat Tabūk kāna (It has been reported that, during the expedition to Tabūk, he would…).”
(4) In Ma‘rifat ‘Ulūm al-Hadīth (p. 395, category 28). Also recorded by Ahmad (22094), Abū Dāwūd (1220), al-Tirmidhī (553), Ibn Hibbān (1458, 1593), al-Dāraqutnī (1464, 1465), and al-Bayhaqī (3:163), all through Qutaybah ibn Sa‘īd, from al-Layth, with the same chain.
Abū Dāwūd said, as quoted by al-Hāfiz in al-Talkhīs al-Habīr (3:974): “This hadith is munkar (rejected), and there is no well-established hadith concerning combining prayers at the time of the earlier prayer (jam‘ al-taqdīm).” Al-Tirmidhī said: “The hadith of Mu‘ādh is hasan (fair) and gharīb (singular in transmission). Qutaybah alone transmitted it; we know of no one else who narrated it from al-Layth. The hadith of al-Layth, from Yazīd ibn Abī Habīb, from Abū al-Tufayl, from Mu‘ādh, is gharīb. The version known to scholars is that of Abū al-Zubayr, from Abū al-Tufayl, from Mu‘ādh: the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, combined Dhuhr with ‘Asr and Maghrib with ‘Ishā’ during the expedition to Tabūk. Qurrah ibn Khālid, Sufyān al-Thawrī, Mālik, and several others narrated it from Abū al-Zubayr al-Makkī.” I say: The reliably preserved version to which al-Tirmidhī referred was recorded by Mālik in al-Muwatta’ (383), Ahmad (21997, 22012, 22036), and Muslim (706), through several routes from Abū al-Zubayr, with the same chain. It does not contain the details concerning combining prayers at the time of the earlier prayer or the later prayer (jam‘ al-ta’khīr) found in this hadith of Qutaybah.