travels, the same deeds he used to do while healthy and resident are recorded for him.” Al-Bukhārī and Muslim both reported it in their Sahīh collections from Abū Mūsā.

Allah, glorified is He, mentioned these categories in the verse only to explain which people with valid excuses are exempt from standing in prayer at night. He mentioned the sick and the traveller, both mentioned in the hadith, and divided travellers into two groups: those travelling through the land seeking Allah’s bounty, and those fighting in Allah’s cause—that is, merchants and soldiers.

The point here is that these four categories—fighters; merchants and those associated with them, such as craftsmen; Quran reciters; and those with valid excuses, such as the sick and others like them—have all come to include various groups whose description would take too long.

Their affairs range from what is good and commanded to what is evil and forbidden, as well as what is permissible. Most of their affairs involve all three: the commanded, the forbidden and the permissible. What is obligatory is to enjoin what Allah has commanded, forbid what He has prohibited, and allow what Allah has made permissible.