Fifth: Shortening the prayer while travelling is preferable to completing it in full. This is evidenced by the ḥadīth of ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUmar, who said that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ declared, “Allah loves that His concessions be taken just as He dislikes that His prohibitions be violated.” (1) Another wording states, “Allah loves that His concessions be taken just as He loves that His firm commands be carried out.” (2)
However, if a traveller performs the four-rakʿah prayer as four, his prayer is valid, though he has neglected what is superior. ʿĀʾishah used to complete the prayer during travel after the Prophet’s death ﷺ, and ʿUthmān did so at Minā (3). Nevertheless, what the Messenger of Allah ﷺ consistently practiced on his journeys is unquestionably better (4). And I heard our shaykh, Imām ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn
(1) Reported by Imam Ahmad, al-Musnad, 2/108; declared authentic by al-Albani, Irwa al-Ghalil, no. 564.
(2) Reported by Ibn Hibban from the hadith of Ibn Abbas, 2/69, no. 354, and by al-Tabarani in al-Muʿjam al-Kabir, no. 11880; graded sahih by al-Albani, Irwa al-Ghalil, 3/11, no. 564.
(3) Aisha’s completion of the full prayer while travelling is narrated by Muslim, Book of the Prayer of Travellers, chapter “The Prayer of Travellers and Its Shortening,” no. 3 (685). ʿUthman’s completion of the prayer at Mina is related by al-Bukhari, Book of Shortening the Prayer, chapter “Prayer at Mina,” no. 1084; Book of Hajj, the same chapter, no. 1656; and by Muslim, Book of the Prayer of Travellers and Its Shortening, chapter “Shortened Prayer at Mina,” no. 695.
(4) Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyya states: “Scholars have disagreed over performing the full four-rakʿah prayer while travelling: is it prohibited, disliked, merely contrary to what is preferable, recommended, or equal to shortening? This yields five positions: 1) completing the prayer is superior, an opinion attributed to al-Shafiʿi; 2) both options are equal, as held by some of Malik’s followers; 3) shortening is superior, which is al-Shafiʿi’s sound view and one narration from Ahmad; 4) shortening is obligatory, the view of Abu Hanifa and, in one report, of Malik; and 5) the strongest view: shortening is a sunnah and completion is disliked—hence most scholars, such as Abu Hanifa, Malik, and one of the two reports from Ahmad, do not require a specific intention to shorten.” Majmuʿ al-Fatawa, 24:9–10, 21–22.