He remained silent, then said, ‘May you be bereft of your mother! Do you presume to teach us about prayer? We used to combine the two prayers during the lifetime of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace.’”

Here, Ibn ʿAbbās was neither travelling nor experiencing rain, yet he cited what he had narrated as evidence for what he did. Thus, we know that the combining of prayers he reported was not occasioned by rain. Rather, Ibn ʿAbbās was attending to an important matter concerning the Muslims, addressing them about something they needed to know. He considered that interrupting his address and stepping down would defeat its purpose. In his view, this was therefore one of the needs that permitted combining prayers. For the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, would combine prayers in Medina without fear or rain, but because of a need that arose, as Ibn ʿAbbās said:

“He intended not to subject his community to hardship.”

It is well known that the Prophet’s combining of prayers at ʿArafah and Muzdalifah was not occasioned by fear, rain, or travel either. Had he combined them because of travel, he would have combined them along the way and in Mecca, just as he shortened them there. He would also have combined them when he left Mecca for Minā, where he offered the noon, afternoon, sunset, night, and dawn prayers. Yet he did not combine prayers at Minā before the standing at ʿArafah, nor did he combine them there afterwards, during the days spent at Minā. Rather, he offered each prayer at its appointed time, praying two units in each except the sunset prayer.

Nor did he combine prayers because of the pilgrimage rites. Had that been the reason, he would have combined them from the moment he entered the consecrated state for pilgrimage, since he was in that state from then onwards. Thus, we know that his combining of prayers at ʿArafah and Muzdalifah, which is established by mass transmission, was not occasioned by rain or fear, nor specifically by the pilgrimage rites, nor merely by travel. The same applies to his combining of prayers in Medina as reported by Ibn ʿAbbās. Rather,