by Mālik and Abū al-Khattāb as specific to the people of Mecca (1).
He (peace and blessings be upon him) did not prescribe any fixed travel distance for his community to shorten prayers or break the fast. Rather, he permitted them to do so whenever they travelled through the land, just as he permitted tayammum (dry ablution) on any journey. As for the reports attributing to him a limit of one, two or three days, none of them is authentic whatsoever.
Section
The Prophet’s guidance (peace and blessings be upon him) in reciting and listening to the Quran; his reverent humility and weeping when reciting or listening to it; his beautifying his voice in recitation; and related matters
He (peace and blessings be upon him) had a regular portion of the Quran that he recited without neglecting it. His recitation was measured, neither rapid nor hurried; rather, he pronounced each letter distinctly (2). He paused at the end of each verse (3). He prolonged the long vowels, doing so in al-Rahmān (the Most Compassionate) and al-Rahīm (the Most Merciful) (4). At the beginning of his recitation, he would seek refuge in Allah from Satan, the accursed (5), saying:
“I seek refuge in Allah from Satan, the accursed.”
Sometimes he would say:
“O Allah, I seek refuge in You from Satan, the accursed—from the madness he causes, the arrogance he inspires, and the evil poetry he prompts” (6).
He sought refuge before reciting.
(1) Majmū‘ al-Fatāwā (24:12–13, 34–35), and the passages from it cited above.
(2) Recorded by Abū Dāwūd (1466) and al-Tirmidhī (2923), from Umm Salama. Its chain of transmission includes Ya‘lā ibn Mamlak, an unknown narrator.
(3) Recorded by Ahmad (26583), Abū Dāwūd (4001), and al-Tirmidhī (2927), from Umm Salama. Al-Tirmidhī graded it weak. Its sources have already been discussed in detail (p. 400).
(4) Recorded by al-Bukhārī (5046), from Anas ibn Mālik.
(5) The printed edition reads: “qirā’atihi” (his recitation).
(6) Recorded by Ibn Abī Shayba (29733), Ahmad (3828, 3830), Ibn Mājah (808), Ibn Khuzayma (472), al-Tabarānī in al-Du‘ā’ (1381) and al-Mu‘jam al-Kabīr (9:262), al-Hākim (1:207), and al-Bayhaqī (2:36), through several chains from ‘Atā’ ibn al-Sā’ib, from Abū ‘Abd al-Rahmān al-Sulamī, from ‘Abd Allāh ibn Mas‘ūd, as a marfū‘ report (attributed to the Prophet). Ibn al-Sā’ib had developed confusion in his transmission (ikhtilāt). In most of these chains, those narrating from him heard him after this confusion developed; in some, it is unclear when they heard him. Hammād ibn Salama—who heard him before the confusion developed—differed from these narrators, reporting it instead as Ibn Mas‘ūd’s own statement, as recorded by al-Tayālisī (369) and, through him, al-Bayhaqī (2:36). This is the more plausible version.
There are corroborating reports attributed to the Prophet, but none is sound. See Musnad Ahmad (11473, 16739, 22179), al-Bukhārī’s al-Tārīkh al-Kabīr (6:488), Jāmi‘ al-Tirmidhī (242), Sunan al-Bayhaqī (2:34–35), Ibn Rajab’s Fath al-Bārī (4:302–304), and Da‘īf Abī Dāwūd—al-Umm (1:296).