the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said this to the people of Mecca within Mecca itself in the year of the conquest. It is also established that Umar ibn al-Khattāb said it to the people of Mecca when he prayed within Mecca itself.

It is clear that, had the people of Mecca stood up to complete their prayers as four units, doing so at Arafah, Muzdalifah and Minā during the days spent there, this would necessarily have been widely reported, given the abundant reasons and motives for transmitting it. Indeed, had they delayed the Asr prayer and then stood up separately from the other pilgrims to pray it in shortened form, that too would have been reported. How much more so had they completed Zuhr as four units, unlike the rest of the Muslims! Furthermore, if they had begun completing Zuhr while the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, had already begun Asr, he would either have had to wait for them by prolonging his standing, or they would have missed part—indeed, most—of Asr with him. What, then, if they were completing all their prayers in full?

This argument is binding on everyone, but it is even more compelling against those who say that the people of Mecca combined their prayers with him. The scholars have differed over whether the people of Mecca may shorten and combine their prayers at Arafah, holding three views. The first is that they may neither shorten nor combine them. This is the well-known position among the followers of al-Shāfiʿī and a group of Ahmad’s followers, including al-Qādī in al-Mujarrad and Ibn Aqīl in al-Fusūl, because they believe that this depends on a long journey, whereas this journey is short.