the well-known Sunan collections, none narrated it except al-Nasā’ī. His wording reports from ‘Ā’ishah that she travelled with the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, from Medina to Mecca to perform ‘umrah. Upon arriving, she said: “O Messenger of Allah, may my father and mother be sacrificed for you! You shortened your prayers while I prayed them in full, and you refrained from fasting while I fasted.” He replied, “You have done well, ‘Ā’ishah.” She added, “He did not reproach me.”

This contrasts with someone who sets out to defend a particular person’s opinion and advances evidence in its support that, were he free of that purpose, he would not strain to adduce and would instead judge invalid.

The correct view is what Abū Bakr stated: this hadith does not have a connected chain. ‘Abd al-Rahmān only visited ‘Ā’ishah when he was a boy and did not accurately retain what she said. Abū Muhammad ibn Hazm said of it:

“This hadith was narrated solely by al-‘Alā’ ibn Zuhayr al-Azdī; no one else narrated it. He is an unknown narrator, and this hadith is unquestionably erroneous.”

For it states that she set out with the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, to perform ‘umrah in Ramadan. Yet it is well known, by agreement among the scholars, that the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, never performed ‘umrah in Ramadan, nor did he leave Medina to perform ‘umrah in Ramadan. Indeed, he never even set out for Mecca in Ramadan except in the year of the conquest. On that occasion, he was travelling during Ramadan and conquered Mecca in the month of Ramadan in the year 8 AH, by agreement among the scholars. During that journey, some of his Companions fasted and others did not, but he only ever led them in prayers of two rak‘ahs. None of his Companions reported that he prayed four rak‘ahs while travelling. The aforementioned hadith is erroneous, as we shall explain, if Allah Most High wills.