But this is not correct. Had he combined the prayers because he was travelling, he would have combined them before and after that day as well. He stayed at Minā during the days of Tashrīq without combining the prayers. Moreover, only once is he reported to have combined prayers while travelling when he had stopped to stay somewhere. Ordinarily, he combined prayers during travel only when pressing on with his journey. Here, he combined them for purposes such as the standing at ‘Arafah, so that this standing would not be interrupted by prayer or anything else.

As Ahmad stated, prayers may be combined because of such an engagement that prevents them from being offered separately. Those followers of Ahmad who make travel a condition for combining prayers in this case are even further removed from his principles than are the followers of al-Shāfi‘ī. Ahmad permits combining prayers for many reasons other than travel. Indeed, al-Qādī Abū Ya‘lā and others, explaining Ahmad’s statement, said that prayers may be combined for any reason that permits absence from congregational prayer. Combining prayers is therefore not exclusive to travel. This differs from shortening prayers, which is prescribed only for travellers.

For this reason, most jurists, including al-Shāfi‘ī and Ahmad, held that shortening prayers at ‘Arafah, Muzdalifah and Minā, and during the days of Tashrīq, is permissible only for travellers who meet their criteria for shortening prayers. They applied their analogy consistently and believed that, unlike combining prayers, shortening them was solely on account of travel. Ahmad and others even directed that the governor of Mecca should not preside over the Hajj rites, on account of the shortening of prayers. A different view was held by groups from Medina and elsewhere—including Mālik and a group