been reported that he combined them in this manner. This, then, is something about which uncertainty may arise, unlike his praying four rakʿahs while travelling, had he done so. There would have been no uncertainty or dispute about that; rather, the Muslims would have reported it. Whoever considers it possible that he prayed four rakʿahs while travelling—although none of the Companions reported it, and it is known only through a single narrator judged weak, reporting from another narrator, from ʿĀ’ishah, whose reliably established reports do not agree with it but contradict it—would accept as true a report through a similar chain that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, once prayed four rakʿahs for the dawn prayer. Such a person should likewise accept all reports of this kind: those transmitted by a lone narrator concerning matters that people would have had every reason and incentive to report, and which, had they been true, would certainly have been reported and become widely known.

This is comparable in weakness to the report that he said to the people of Mecca at ʿArafah, Muzdalifah and Minā:

“Complete your prayers, for we are travellers.”

This is also reported from ʿUmar, but only through a weak chain, even though it is known that, had it been true, people would have had every reason and incentive to report it.

An example is what Abū Dāwūd al-Tayālisī narrated: Hammād ibn Salamah narrated to us, from ʿAlī ibn Zayd, from Abū Nadrah, who said:

“A man asked ʿImrān ibn al-Husayn about the prayer of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, while travelling. He replied:

‘This young man is asking me about the prayers of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, while travelling, so remember what I tell you about them. I never travelled with the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, on any journey