the jihad campaign, and they left Mecca for the Battle of Hunayn. This differs from the case of someone who comes only to perform the pilgrimage rites, for he has no need to remain for more than three days. It is thus clear that this limit has no bearing on shortening prayers or on defining the duration of travel.

Among those who set the limit at four days, some cited the permitted stay of an Emigrant, excluding the days of arrival and departure from the count. Others based it on the premise that anyone arriving in a town is, in principle, a resident who must pray in full. However, an exception allowing four days was established by the Prophet’s stay during his pilgrimage, when he remained for that period and shortened his prayers. Regarding the campaigns of the conquest and Tabūk, they said that he had not resolved to stay for a specified period, since, in the year of the conquest, he intended to proceed to fight at Hunayn.

This argument rests on the premise that anyone arriving in a town ceases to count as a traveller. That premise is not conceded; rather, it contradicts the revealed texts, scholarly consensus, and customary usage. A merchant who arrives to buy or sell goods and then leaves is regarded by people as a traveller. He may spend several days buying and selling the goods, and people set no fixed limit for this.

Those who said that one may shorten prayers for up to fifteen days argued: “This is the longest period that has been proposed; anyone staying longer is a resident by consensus.” Yet the matter is not as they claimed. Ahmad instructed that prayers be performed in full for a stay exceeding four days as a precaution. Reports from him differ as to whether someone intending a stay encompassing twenty-one prayers should pray in full or shorten them. This reflects differing judgments concerning the Prophet’s prayer on the fourth, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. For if he prayed Fajr at the place where he had spent the night, which was