and then needs to bring ‘Ishā’ forward to pray it with Maghrib and sleep afterwards, so that he can wake in the middle of the night to resume his journey. In such circumstances and others like them, he may combine prayers.

As for someone staying for several days in a village or town, whose circumstances are like those of its residents, although he shortens his prayers because he is a traveller, he does not combine them, just as he does not pray on his mount, perform dry ablution for prayer, or eat carrion. These concessions are permitted when needed, and he has no need of them. Shortening prayers is different, for it is the Sunnah for prayer during travel.

Combining prayers at the time of the earlier prayer, as the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, did at ‘Arafah, is reported in the Sunan collections. One example is the hadith narrated by Abū Dāwūd, al-Tirmidhī and others through al-Mufaddal ibn Fadālah, from al-Layth ibn Sa‘d, from Hāshim ibn Sa‘d, from Abū al-Zubayr, from Abū al-Tufayl, from Mu‘ādh ibn Jabal:

“During the expedition to Tabūk, if the sun had passed its zenith before the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, set out, he would combine Zuhr and ‘Asr. If he set out before the sun passed its zenith, he would delay Zuhr until he stopped for ‘Asr. He would do likewise with Maghrib: if the sun had set before he set out, he would combine Maghrib and ‘Ishā’. If he set out before sunset, he would delay Maghrib until he stopped for ‘Ishā’, then dismount and combine the two.”

Al-Tirmidhī said: “The hadith of Mu‘ādh is sound and singular.”

I say: Qutaybah also narrated it from al-Layth, from Yazīd ibn Abī Habīb, from