Yazīd al-Hanāʾī said, “I asked Anas ibn Mālik about shortening the prayer. I used to set out for Kūfah and would pray two rakʿahs until I returned. Anas replied…,” and he related the report.

I say: The chain is good; all its transmitters are trustworthy—men cited by the two Shaykhs—except al-Hanāʾī, who is found only in Muslim’s collection. A number of reliable authorities narrated from him. Ibn Abī Ḥātim (4/2/198) quoted his father as saying, “He is a shaykh,” and Ibn Ḥibbān listed him in al-Thiqat (1/257), once naming his grandfather, and remarked, “Whoever calls him Yazīd ibn Yaḥyā or ibn Abī Yaḥyā is mistaken.”

The ḥadīth was recorded by Muslim (2/145), Abū Dāwūd (1201), and Ibn Abī Shaybah (2/108/1/2); Abū Yaʿlā also cited it in his Musnad (fol. 99/2) through several routes from Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar, but without al-Hanāʾī’s words, “I used to go out to Kūfah … until I returned.” This is an authentic addition, and it is for that reason I have mentioned the ḥadīth. Abū ʿAwānah (2/346) likewise transmitted it via Abū Dāwūd—that is, al-Ṭayālisī—who said, “Shuʿbah narrated it to us,” though al-Ṭayālisī did not include it in his Musnad.

A parasang (farsakh) equals three miles. A mile, in geographic terms, is the furthest point the eye can reach on level ground, for sight bends away along the earth’s surface until perception fades; this is the conclusion affirmed by al-Jawharī. It is also said that its measure is when one looks at a person on flat land yet cannot tell whether the figure is male or female, nor whether he is coming or going, as stated in Fatḥ (2/467). According to the calculations of some contemporary scholars, it corresponds to 1,680 metres.

Fiqh of the Ḥadīth

This ḥadīth indicates that when a traveller covers a distance of three parasangs (a parasang being roughly