to a place where people reside and to one where they do not, provided that the traveller does not intend to reside there. The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and the Muslims travelled to Mecca, a place where residence is possible, yet remained travellers during their military campaigns, Hajj and umrah. The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, shortened his prayers within Mecca itself in the year of the Conquest and said:

“O people of Mecca, offer your prayers in full, for we are travellers.”

Umar likewise did this after him, as Mālik reported with an authentic chain of transmission. Neither the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, nor Abū Bakr nor Umar did this at Minā. Whoever attributes that to them is mistaken.

This differs from the Prophet’s going to Qubā every Saturday, riding or walking, and his going out to pray over the martyrs—for he prayed over them shortly before his death. It also differs from his going to al-Baqī and from the people of al-Awālī coming to Medina to attend the Friday prayer. None of this constitutes travel, since the name Medina encompasses all these places. The people fall into only two categories: the Bedouin and the people of Medina. Moreover, a person would go and return to his family that same day without making the preparations required for travel. He would carry neither provisions nor waterskins, whether for the journey or for the place he was going to.

For this reason, someone who goes to the outskirts of his own city is not called a traveller. Likewise, according to most scholars, the Friday prayer is obligatory for those living around a city, with the relevant distance reckoned by the audibility of the call to prayer and by a measure of one parasang. If that constituted travel, the Friday prayer would not be obligatory for someone who had to undertake a journey to attend it. Since the Friday prayer is not obligatory for a traveller, how could someone be obliged to travel for it?