ibn Zayd, from ʿAmr ibn Dīnār, from Jābir ibn Zayd, from Ibn ʿAbbās:

“The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, prayed seven and eight units of prayer in Medina: the noon, afternoon, sunset and night prayers.”

In al-Bukhārī’s version, narrated from Hammād ibn Zayd, he said to Ayyūb, “Perhaps it was on a rainy night?” He replied, “Perhaps.”

The response is:

This conjecture came from Ayyūb and ʿAmr, not from Mālik. They entertained this possibility because the wording they heard did not rule out rain. Had they heard the narration of Habīb ibn Abī Thābit, a trustworthy and reliable transmitter, they would not have formed this conjecture. Furthermore, this narration of Ibn ʿAbbās is an unqualified account of an action. Why did he mention in it that there was neither fear nor rain? This shows that Ibn ʿAbbās intended to explain the general permissibility of combining prayers in Medina, not to identify one particular reason. Whoever claims that he meant only combining prayers because of rain has therefore misunderstood him.

Moreover, ʿAmr ibn Dīnār sometimes allows the possibility that it was because of rain, agreeing with Ayyūb, while at other times he and Abū al-Shaʿthāʾ say that the prayers were combined within their respective times. Thus, both Sahīh collections record, through Ibn ʿUyaynah, from ʿAmr ibn Dīnār:

“I heard Jābir ibn Zayd say: ‘I heard Ibn ʿAbbās say: “I prayed eight units together and seven together with the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him.”’”

ʿAmr said: “I said, ‘Abū al-Shaʿthāʾ, I think he delayed the noon prayer and brought forward the afternoon prayer, and delayed the sunset prayer and brought forward the night prayer.’ He replied, ‘I think so too.’”

The response is:

That is not the case, for Ibn ʿAbbās had far greater understanding and knowledge