the prayer for travellers.”

It is also authentically reported that ʿUmar ibn al-Khattāb said:

“The traveller’s prayer is two units; the Friday prayer is two units; the Eid al-Adhā prayer is two units; and the Eid al-Fitr prayer is two units—complete, not shortened, as declared by your Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him).”

As for the words of Allah Most High:

“When you travel through the land, there is no blame upon you for shortening the prayer if you fear that the disbelievers may attack you,”

the declaration that there is no blame clarifies the ruling and removes misgivings; it does not preclude shortening the prayer from being the Sunnah. Likewise, He said:

“Indeed, Safā and Marwah are among the symbols of Allah. So whoever performs Hajj to the House or performs ʿumrah, there is no blame upon him for going between them.”

He declared that there was no blame because of the misgivings they had about going between them, arising from the aversion some of them had to doing so during the pre-Islamic era. Going between them is prescribed by agreement among the Muslims, whether it is considered an essential pillar, an obligation, or an emphatically recommended Sunnah.

He, glorified is He, mentioned both fear and travel because shortening encompasses both reducing the number of prayer units and curtailing the essential acts of prayer. Fear permits curtailing the essential acts, while travel permits reducing the number of units. When both occur together, both forms of shortening are permitted. If travel occurs without fear, one of the two forms of shortening is permitted.

The scholars disagree concerning the traveller: is his prescribed prayer two units, with no need for an intention to shorten it, or may he shorten it only with that intention? There are two views: