by the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) during travel without fear, and understood the shortening for which Allah, Mighty and Majestic, removed blame to mean, in circumstances of fear, reducing the prayer from two rak‘ahs to one, reducing its length, or relaxing its prescribed forms, held that shortening the prayer during travel was obligatory. This is the position of Abū Hanīfah, his companions, and a number of other scholars. Ismā‘īl ibn Ishāq and Abū Bakr ibn al-Jahm also adopted this view. Ibn al-Jahm mentioned that Ashhab transmitted this [from Mālik]. Anyone holding this view must require those who deliberately offer the prayer in full during travel, whether alone or in congregation, to repeat it without any time limit, as Abū Hanīfah and his companions maintain. Yet no such position is found in the school of Mālik, either from him or from any of his companions. What I have seen transmitted by Ashhab from Mālik is that the traveller’s obligatory prayer consists of two rak‘ahs. On reflection, this differs from what Ibn al-Jahm attributed to him.
Those who accepted the report that prayer was prescribed as four rak‘ahs both during travel and when resident, after which the resident’s prayer was left unchanged and the traveller’s prayer was shortened; who understood the shortening for which Allah absolved His servants of blame to mean reducing the prayer from four rak‘ahs to two when safe, as we mentioned concerning the report from ‘Alī—may Allah Most High be pleased with him; and who considered it established that “the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) shortened the prayer during his travels while safe,” held that shortening the prayer during travel is a sunnah: observing it is meritorious, while omitting it is not sinful. For, among the alternatives Allah permitted him, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) would choose only what he knew was best in His sight.
He indicated this when he said, “It is a charity Allah has bestowed upon you, so accept His charity.” He thus encouraged accepting this charity and following his example in doing so, without making it obligatory. A recipient is not obliged to accept what is given to him in charity, though accepting it is preferable, unless the gift is accompanied by some consideration that makes accepting it objectionable. No such consideration applies to the charity of Allah Most High. This is the report transmitted by Abū al-Mus‘ab from