he combined prayers to spare his community hardship. Thus, whenever they need to combine prayers, they may do so.

Al-Bayhaqī said:

“In Ibn Shaqīq’s report from Ibn ʿAbbās, transmitted through these two reliably established routes from him, neither rain nor travel is ruled out. It must therefore be understood as referring to one of these circumstances, or according to the interpretation given by ʿAmr ibn Dīnār. Neither report precludes that interpretation.”

The response is:

Glory be to Allah! Ibn ʿAbbās was addressing them in Basra: he was not travelling, and there was no rain. He cited an instance of combining prayers as evidence for doing what he himself had done. Had that instance been occasioned by travel or rain, Ibn ʿAbbās was far too eminent to justify his own combining of prayers by citing prayers combined because of rain or travel. Moreover, it is established in both Sahīh collections, on his authority, that this combining took place in Medina. How, then, can it be said that he did not rule out travel?

Habīb ibn Abī Thābit is among the most trustworthy transmitters, and it has been narrated from Saʿīd that he said:

“Without fear or rain.”

As for his statement that al-Bukhārī did not include this report, the response is that this is among the weakest arguments. Al-Bukhārī did not include the narrations of Abū al-Zubayr, nor did he include reports from everyone who met his criteria.

As for his statement, “The report of ʿAmr ibn Dīnār from Abū al-Shaʿthāʾ is similar to that of Abū al-Zubayr,” he cited what the two imams recorded in their Sahīh collections through Hammād