the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, at Minā, performing two units, and two units behind Abū Bakr, and two units behind ‘Umar.”

When Ya‘lā ibn Umayyah asked ‘Umar about the verse, ‘Umar said: “I wondered about the same thing that surprised you. So I asked the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and he said: ‘It is a charity that Allah has bestowed upon you, so accept His charity.’”

The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, thus explained that shortening the prayer during safe travel is a charity from Allah. He did not say that it contradicts the apparent meaning of the Quran.

We therefore say: shortening in its full, unrestricted sense comprises both reducing the number of prayer units and shortening the essential acts. Reducing the number means performing a four-unit prayer as two units. Shortening the essential acts means shortening the standing, bowing and prostration, as in prayer offered under conditions of intense fear or lesser fear.

Travel is the reason for reducing the number of units, while fear is the reason for shortening the essential acts. When both occur together, both the number of units and the essential acts are shortened. If only one of these two reasons is present, only the corresponding shortening applies. Thus His saying, Glorified is He:

“that you shorten the prayer”

is unrestricted, encompassing both kinds of shortening. The Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, explains what the Quran leaves unelaborated, clarifies it, indicates its meaning and gives expression to it. It explains the Quran rather than contradicting its apparent meaning.

A similar example is found in a reading of His words:

“And wipe your heads and your feet.”

Here, wiping is unrestricted in meaning and includes wiping with flowing water, which is washing