as Abū Hanīfah holds. Others say that it is permissible but disliked, as Mālik and Ahmad hold.

The response is this: if it were beloved to Allah for a traveller to pray two rakʿahs followed by another two, He would have recommended that he perform the obligatory prayer as four rakʿahs. Drawing near to Him through part of the obligatory midday prayer is better than drawing near to Him through voluntary prayer accompanying it. This is why He has made four rakʿahs obligatory for a resident. If a resident wished to pray two obligatory rakʿahs and two voluntary rakʿahs, that would not be permissible for him. Allah Most High never requires one thing of him and forbids him another unless what He commands is better than what He forbids. Thus, performing the midday prayer as four rakʿahs is better in Allah’s sight than performing it as two rakʿahs accompanied by two voluntary rakʿahs.

Since He, glorified be He, has not recommended that a traveller pray four rakʿahs in the better of these two ways in His sight, all the more would He not recommend praying four in the way He regards as less preferable. This sound reasoning thus establishes that the practice of the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) is the most perfect, that his guidance is the best guidance, and that it is better for a traveller to confine himself to the two obligatory rakʿahs than to accompany them with two Sunnah rakʿahs.

This also makes clear that, if the Friday prayer is a shortened midday prayer, it is not Sunnah to accompany it with the Sunnah prayer associated with a resident’s midday prayer. Rather, it should be treated like a traveller’s shortened midday prayer.

When travelling, the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) would perform the two Sunnah rakʿahs of the dawn prayer and Witr. He would pray on his mount in whichever direction it carried him, and would perform Witr on it, except that he