that he combined the prayers on that expedition only at ʿArafah and Muzdalifah. As for Minā, no one has reported that he combined there; rather, they transmitted that he shortened the prayer there. This shows that he sometimes combined while travelling and sometimes did not, and that, on most of his journeys, he did not combine the two prayers. It also makes clear that combining is not an intrinsic Sunnah of travel in the way that shortening is; instead, it is resorted to only when a need arises, whether one is travelling or resident—for he combined while resident as well so as not to burden his community.

Hence, when a traveller needs to combine, he may do so—whether that is because he is on the move during the time of the second prayer or the first and dismounting would be difficult, or because, while halted, he has another need. For instance, he might require sleep and rest at the times of ẓuhr and ʿishāʾ: he stops at ẓuhr exhausted, sleepless and hungry, needing rest, food and sleep, so he delays ẓuhr until the time of ʿaṣr; then he brings ʿishāʾ forward with maghrib and sleeps afterwards so he can wake at midnight to resume the journey. In such cases, and others like them, combining is permissible.

By contrast, the person who has settled for several days in a village or town—although he may still shorten because he is a traveller—does not combine, just as he does not pray on his mount, pray with tayammum (dry ablution), or eat carrion. These concessions are allowed only when there is a need, and in his case no need exists, unlike shortening, which is the Sunnah for the traveller’s prayer.

165 – “The weight measure is that of the people of Mecca, and the volume measure is that of the people of Medina.”

It was narrated by Ibn al-Aʿrābī in his Muʿjam (2/167), Abū Dāwūd (2340), al-Nasaʾī (7/281, Egyptian print), Ibn Ḥibbān (1105), al-Ṭabarānī (3/202/1), al-Ṭaḥāwī in Mushkil al-Āthār (2/99), and Abū Nuʿaym in Ḥilyat al-Awliyāʾ (4/20).