Some have reported a statement from him that twilight means the white twilight when not travelling and the red twilight when travelling. The true meaning of this report is as explained above. Otherwise, neither Ahmad nor any other Muslim scholar said that twilight itself differs according to whether one is travelling or not. Ahmad explained the reason for the distinction. Thus, if an ambiguous statement is reported from him, his explicit explanation clarifies it. Some have also reported from him that twilight means the whiteness without qualification. I believe this is simply a mistaken attribution to him.

His position is that, when travelling, the disappearance of the first phase of twilight marks the end of the sunset prayer’s time and the beginning of the night prayer’s time. Yet he permits a traveller to offer the night prayer before twilight disappears, explaining that this is because the traveller may combine prayers. It follows that he was referring to offering it before twilight disappears, not after the red twilight disappears, since in the latter case permission to combine prayers could not serve as the explanation.

Second: His statement indicates that, in his view, combining prayers means offering them within the same prayer time, even if they are not performed consecutively. This is like combining them during the second prayer’s time, according to the well-known position of his school and that of others. Thus, where combining is permitted, one may offer the sunset prayer at the beginning of its time and the night prayer at the end of the sunset prayer’s time.

He also explicitly stated something comparable: “If he offers one of the two prayers being combined at home and the other in the mosque, there is nothing wrong with that.” This is an explicit statement from him that combining prayers means combining them within one prayer time, without requiring them to be performed consecutively. Some of his followers interpreted this as applying only when the interval is short, but that contradicts his explicit wording. Furthermore, because the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace,