“The Messenger of Allah would combine the two prayers while travelling.” Al-Haythamī said: “It was transmitted by Abū Yaʿlā, al-Bazzār, and al-Ṭabarānī in al-Kabīr, and Abū Yaʿlā’s narrators are all among the narrators of the Ṣaḥīḥ collections.”

I say: This is mistaken in two respects, for Abū Yaʿlā also transmitted it (9/284/5413) by way of Ibn Abī Shaybah, who included it in al-Muṣannaf (2/458) by way of Ibn Abī Laylā. Al-Bazzār likewise transmitted it (1/330/685) and said: “It is not narrated from ʿAbd Allāh except through this chain of transmission.”

I say: This is the first error: he treated Abū Yaʿlā’s chain of transmission as different from the others’, whereas their chain is one and the same. The other is his statement, “Its narrators are among the narrators of the Ṣaḥīḥ collections.” Ibn Abī Laylā—Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī Laylā—is not among the narrators of the Ṣaḥīḥ collections. Moreover, he had a very poor memory, as stated in al-Taqrīb.

In sum, the hadith cited in the heading is unquestionably authentic in transmission through Ibn ʿAbbās; yet it is sound in substantive terms, unlike the narration of Abū Mālik al-Nakhaʿī, which specifies that the combining was merely apparent combining. For it is extremely weak, as has preceded.

Know that al-Shawkānī, may Allah have mercy on him, held that what the hadith meant was merely apparent combining. He discussed this at great length and resorted to forced interpretations of the hadith, seeking to turn its meaning away