Tafseer of The Women · An-Nisaa · 4:101
And when you travel throughout the land, there is no blame upon you for shortening the prayer, [especially] if you fear that those who disbelieve may disrupt [or attack] you. Indeed, the disbelievers are ever to you a clear enemy.
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
The explanation of His word: وَإِذَا ضَرَبْتُمْ فِي الأَرْضِ فَلَيْسَ عَلَيْكُمْ جُنَاحٌ أَنْ تَقْصُرُوا مِنَ الصَّلاةِ إِنْ خِفْتُمْ أَنْ يَفْتِنَكُمُ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا إِنَّ الْكَافِرِينَ كَانُوا لَكُمْ عَدُوًّا مُبِينًا (101) ("And when you travel through the land, there is no blame upon you for shortening the prayer, if you fear that those who disbelieve may put you to trial. Indeed, the disbelievers are to you a manifest enemy." [4:101])
Abū Jaʿfar said: He, exalted be His praise, means by His word "And when you travel through the land": and when you, O believers, journey across the earth — "there is no blame upon you," He says: then there is no objection and no sin upon you — "for shortening the prayer," that is to say: that you shorten its number, so that you perform as two [rakaʿāt] what in the situation of residence, while you are settled, would count as four, according to the opinion of some of them.
It has also been said: its meaning is: there is no blame upon you for shortening the prayer to the least of its number during your travels across the earth — he meant one [rakʿah] — according to the opinion of others.
Others said: its meaning is: there is no blame upon you for shortening from the prescribed limits (ḥudūd) of the prayer. — "if you fear that those who disbelieve may put you to trial," that is to say: if you fear that those who disbelieve (kāfir) will put you to trial in your prayer. And their putting them to trial therein is: that they assault them while they are prostrating, until they kill or capture them, and prevent them from performing and completing it, and place themselves between them and the worship of Allah and the pure profession of His oneness.
= Then He, exalted be His praise, informs them of the disposition that the people of disbelief harbor toward them, and says: "Indeed, the disbelievers are to you a manifest enemy," that is to say: those who deny the oneness of Allah — "are to you a manifest enemy," He says: an enemy who has openly shown his enmity toward you by taking up arms against you on account of your faith in Allah and in His Messenger, on account of your renunciation of the worship of the idols and graven images which they worship, and on account of your turning away from the error in which they find themselves.
The people of interpretation differed concerning the meaning of "the shortening" (al-qaṣr) for which Allah has removed the sin from the one who performs it. Some of them said: it is, on a journey, [the shortening] of the prayer whose full performance in the situation of residence required four rakaʿāt, and He gave permission to shorten it on a journey to two.
*Mention of who said that:
10310 - ʿUbayd ibn Ismāʿīl al-Habbārī related to me, saying: ʿAbdallāh ibn Idrīs related to us, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of Ibn Abī ʿAmmār, on the authority of ʿAbdallāh ibn Bābayh, on the authority of Yaʿlā ibn Munyah, who said: I said to ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb, may Allah be pleased with him: "there is no blame upon you for shortening the prayer if you fear" — yet the people are [now] safe! He said: I marveled at that which you marvel at, until I asked the Prophet ﷺ about it, and he said: "It is a charity which Allah has bestowed upon you, so accept His charity."
10311 - Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Ibn Idrīs related to us, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of Ibn Abī ʿAmmār, on the authority of ʿAbdallāh ibn Bābayh, on the authority of Yaʿlā ibn Umayya, on the authority of ʿUmar, on the authority of the Prophet ﷺ, the like of it.
10312 - Saʿīd ibn Yaḥyā al-Umawī related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Abī ʿAdī related to us, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, who said: I heard ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAbdallāh ibn Abī ʿAmmār relate, on the authority of ʿAbdallāh ibn Bābayh, who related on the authority of Yaʿlā ibn Umayya, who said: I said to ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb: I marvel that the people shorten the prayer while they are safe, when Allah, hallowed and exalted, has said: "for shortening the prayer if you fear that those who disbelieve may put you to trial"! Then ʿUmar said: I marveled at that which you marvel at, and I mentioned that to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and he said: "It is a charity which Allah has bestowed upon you, so accept His charity."
10313 - Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Hishām ibn ʿAbd al-Malik related to us, saying: Abū ʿAwāna related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, on the authority of Abū al-ʿĀliya, who said: I traveled to Mecca and each time prayed two rakaʿāt. Then some Qurʾān reciters from this region met me, and they said: How do you pray? I said: Two rakaʿāt. They said: Is that Sunna or Qurʾān? I said: Both, Sunna and Qurʾān, [for] the Messenger of Allah ﷺ prayed two rakaʿāt. They said: He was [then] at war! I said: Allah has said: لَقَدْ صَدَقَ اللَّهُ رَسُولَهُ الرُّؤْيَا بِالْحَقِّ لَتَدْخُلُنَّ الْمَسْجِدَ الْحَرَامَ إِنْ شَاءَ اللَّهُ آمِنِينَ مُحَلِّقِينَ رُءُوسَكُمْ وَمُقَصِّرِينَ لا تَخَافُونَ [Surah al-Fatḥ: 27] ("Certainly Allah has fulfilled the vision of His Messenger in truth: you will surely enter the Sacred Mosque, if Allah wills, in safety, with heads shaved and hair cut short, without fear"), and He has said: "And when you travel through the land, there is no blame upon you for shortening the prayer" — and he continued reciting until he reached: فَإِذَا اطْمَأْنَنْتُمْ ("And when you are secure").
10314 - Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Isḥāq related to us, saying: ʿAbdallāh ibn Hāshim related to us, saying: Sayf informed us, on the authority of Abū Rawq, on the authority of Abū Ayyūb, on the authority of ʿAlī, who said: A group of traders asked the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and said: O Messenger of Allah, we travel through the land, how should we pray? Then Allah revealed: "And when you travel through the land, there is no blame upon you for shortening the prayer," and after that the revelation ceased. When a year had passed thereafter, the Prophet ﷺ carried out a military expedition and prayed the noon prayer (ẓuhr), whereupon the polytheists (mushrikīn) said: Muḥammad and his companions have offered you their backs, why did you not attack them? Then one of them said: They have yet another prayer like it, which follows it! Then Allah, hallowed and exalted, revealed between the two prayers: إِنْ خِفْتُمْ أَنْ يَفْتِنَكُمُ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا إِنَّ الْكَافِرِينَ كَانُوا لَكُمْ عَدُوًّا مُبِينًا * وَإِذَا كُنْتَ فِيهِمْ فَأَقَمْتَ لَهُمُ الصَّلاةَ فَلْتَقُمْ طَائِفَةٌ مِنْهُمْ مَعَكَ up to His word: إِنَّ اللَّهَ أَعَدَّ لِلْكَافِرِينَ عَذَابًا مُهِينًا ("if you fear that those who disbelieve may put you to trial. Indeed, the disbelievers are to you a manifest enemy. And when you are among them and lead the prayer for them, let a party of them stand with you ... Indeed, Allah has prepared for the disbelievers a humiliating punishment"), and thus the prayer of fear (ṣalāt al-khawf) was revealed.
Abū Jaʿfar said: This is a good interpretation of the verse, were it not that in the text there is "idhā" (when), and "idhā" indicates that what comes after it stands apart from the meaning of what comes before it. Had there been no "idhā" in the text, then the meaning of the text — according to this interpretation which Sayf transmitted on the authority of Abū Rawq — would be: if you fear, O believers, that those who disbelieve may put you to trial in your prayer, and you, O Muḥammad, are among them and lead the prayer for them, "let a party of them stand with you," [to the end of] the verse.
* * *
Moreover, it is the case that — according to what has been transmitted — in the reading of Ubayy ibn Kaʿb it reads: (وَإِذَا ضَرَبْتُمْ فِي الأرْضِ فَلَيْسَ عَلَيْكُمْ جُنَاحٌ أَنْ تَقْصُرُوا مِنَ الصَّلاةِ أَنْ يَفْتِنَكُمُ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا) ("And when you travel through the land, there is no blame upon you for shortening the prayer, lest those who disbelieve put you to trial").
10315 - Al-Ḥārith related that to me, saying: ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz related to us, saying: al-Thawrī related to us, on the authority of Wāṣil ibn Ḥayyān, on the authority of ʿAbdallāh ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abzā, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ubayy ibn Kaʿb, that he used to read: (أَنْ تَقْصُرُوا مِنَ الصَّلاةِ أَنْ يَفْتِنَكُمُ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا) ("that you shorten the prayer lest those who disbelieve put you to trial"), and he did not read: "if you fear."
10316 - Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Isḥāq related to us, saying: Bakr ibn al-Shurūd related to us, on the authority of al-Thawrī, on the authority of Wāṣil al-Aḥdab, on the authority of ʿAbdallāh ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ubayy ibn Kaʿb, that he read: (أَنْ تَقْصُرُوا مِنَ الصَّلاةِ أَنْ يَفْتِنَكُم) ("that you shorten the prayer lest they put you to trial"). Bakr said: and in "the Imam," the muṣḥaf of ʿUthmān, may Allah have mercy on him, [it reads]: "if you fear that those who disbelieve may put you to trial."
And this reading indicates that His word "if you fear that those who disbelieve may put you to trial" connects to His word "there is no blame upon you for shortening the prayer," and that the meaning of the text is: and when you travel through the land, then, if you fear that those who disbelieve may put you to trial, there is no blame upon you for shortening the prayer; and that His word وَإِذَا كُنْتَ فِيهِمْ ("And when you are among them") is an independent, new account, and not [a continuation of] the account of this verse.
That is because the interpretation of this reading of Ubayy which we have mentioned from him is: and when you travel through the land, there is no blame upon you for shortening the prayer, lest those who disbelieve put you to trial — where the "lā" (not) is omitted because the text points to it, just as He, exalted be His praise, has said: يُبَيِّنُ اللَّهُ لَكُمْ أَنْ تَضِلُّوا [Surah al-Nisāʾ: 176] ("Allah makes it clear to you, lest you go astray"), with the meaning: lest you go astray.
So in what we have described there is a clear indication of the incorrectness of the interpretation which Sayf transmitted on the authority of Abū Rawq.
* * *
Others said: no, it is the shortening on a journey, except that He, exalted be His praise, permitted that to the traveler only in the state of fear of an enemy whom he dreads will put him to trial in his prayer.
*Mention of who said that:
10317 - Abū ʿĀṣim ʿImrān ibn Muḥammad al-Anṣārī related to me, saying: ʿAbd al-Kabīr ibn ʿAbd al-Majīd related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn ʿAbdallāh ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī Bakr al-Ṣiddīq related to me, saying: I heard my father say: I heard ʿĀʾisha say on a journey: Complete your prayer. Then they said: Did not the Messenger of Allah ﷺ pray two rakaʿāt on a journey? She said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ was [then] at war and was in a state of fear; do you fear at all?
10318 - Muḥammad ibn ʿAbdallāh ibn ʿAbd al-Ḥakam related to me, saying: Ibn Abī Fudayk related to us, saying: Ibn Abī Dhiʾb related to us, on the authority of Ibn Shihāb, on the authority of Umayya ibn ʿAbdallāh ibn Khālid ibn Asīd: that he said to ʿAbdallāh ibn ʿUmar: We find in the Book of Allah the shortening of the prayer of fear, but we do not find the shortening of the prayer of the traveler? Then ʿAbdallāh said: We found our Prophet ﷺ performing a practice, and that practice we have performed.
10319 - ʿAlī ibn Sahl al-Ramlī related to us, saying: Muʾammal related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Hishām ibn ʿUrwa, on the authority of his father: that ʿĀʾisha used to pray two rakaʿāt on a journey.
10320 - Saʿīd ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: my father related to me, saying: Ibn Jurayj related to us, saying: I said to ʿAṭāʾ: Which of the companions of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ used to complete the prayer on a journey? He said: ʿĀʾisha and Saʿd ibn Abī Waqqāṣ.
* * *
Others said: no, by this verse the shortening of the prayer of fear was meant, outside the state of the clashing of the swords [in the thick of battle]. They said: and concerning that it was revealed.
*Mention of who said that:
10321 - Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His word "there is no blame upon you for shortening the prayer," he said: It was on the day when the Prophet ﷺ and his companions were at ʿUsfān, and the polytheists (mushrikīn) at Ḍajnān, and they stood [waiting] facing one another [without fighting]. The Prophet ﷺ prayed with his companions the noon prayer of two rakaʿāt — or: four; Abū ʿĀṣim doubted — wherein their bowings, prostrations, and standing upright were together, in common. Then the polytheists wished to make an attack on their baggage and their goods, whereupon Allah revealed to him: "let a party of them stand with you." He prayed [then] the afternoon prayer (ʿaṣr): he arranged his companions in two rows, pronounced the takbīr with them all together, whereupon the front [row] performed one prostration while the rear [row] remained standing upright; then the rear ones performed the prostration when the Prophet ﷺ stood up [again]. Then he pronounced the takbīr with them and they all bowed together, after which the rear row stepped forward and the front one fell back, and they performed the prostration in turns just as they had done the first time; and he shortened the ʿaṣr prayer to two rakaʿāt.
10322 - Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us, saying: Shibl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: "there is no blame upon you for shortening the prayer," he said: The Prophet ﷺ and his companions were at ʿUsfān and the polytheists at Ḍajnān, and they stood [waiting] facing one another. The Prophet ﷺ prayed with his companions the noon prayer of two rakaʿāt, wherein their bowings, prostrations, and standing upright were in common. Then the polytheists wished to make an attack on their baggage and their goods, whereupon Allah, hallowed and exalted, revealed: "let a party of them stand with you." He prayed [then] with them the afternoon prayer: he arranged his companions in two rows, pronounced the takbīr with them all together, whereupon the front [row] cast itself down with its prostration while the rear ones stood upright and did not prostrate until the Prophet ﷺ stood up [again]. Then he pronounced the takbīr with them and they all bowed together, after which the rear row stepped forward and the front row fell back, and they performed the prostration in turns just as they had been arranged the first time; and the ʿaṣr prayer was shortened to two rakaʿāt.
10323 - Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Mujāhid, on the authority of Abū ʿAyyāsh al-Zuraqī, who said: We were with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ at ʿUsfān, and over the polytheists was Khālid ibn al-Walīd. He said: We prayed the ẓuhr, whereupon the polytheists said: They were in a state such that, had we wished, we could have struck them unawares, could have caught them in their heedlessness. Then the verse of the shortening was revealed between the ẓuhr and the ʿaṣr. The people took up the weapons and arranged themselves behind the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, facing the qibla, while the polytheists stood facing them [on the side of the qibla]. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ pronounced the takbīr and they all pronounced it together; then he bowed and they all bowed together; then he raised his head and they all raised together; then he prostrated and the row closest to him prostrated, while the others remained standing upright to guard them. When these had completed their prostration, the others prostrated. Then the row closest to him withdrew and the others stepped forward and took their place. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ bowed and they all bowed together; then he raised his head and they all raised together; then he prostrated and the row closest to him prostrated, while the others remained standing upright to guard them. When these had completed their prostration, those others prostrated; then they arranged themselves in one line with him and they all sat together, after which he gave them all the salām together. Thus he prayed it at ʿUsfān, and thus he prayed it on the day of [the battle against] Banū Sulaym.
10324 - Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: ʿUbaydallāh ibn Mūsā related to us, on the authority of Shaybān al-Naḥwī, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Mujāhid, on the authority of Abū ʿAyyāsh al-Zuraqī = and on the authority of Isrāʾīl, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Mujāhid, on the authority of Abū ʿAyyāsh, who said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ was at ʿUsfān — then he mentioned the like of it.
10325 - Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Muʿādh ibn Hishām related to us, saying: my father related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, on the authority of Sulaymān al-Yashkurī: that he asked Jābir ibn ʿAbdallāh about the shortening of the prayer: on what day was it revealed? — or: on what day was it? Then Jābir said: We set out to await the caravan of the Quraysh that was arriving from Syria, until, when we were at Nakhl, [we saw that] a man of the [enemy] people came to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and said: O Muḥammad! He said: Yes. He said: Do you fear me? He said: No! He said: Then who will protect you from me? He said: Allah will protect me from you! Then he drew the sword, menaced and threatened him, and then he summoned [the man away]. Then a call was made to march and to take up the weapons, and then a call was made to prayer. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ prayed with a group of the people while another group guarded them; he prayed with those standing beside him two rakaʿāt, then those standing beside him fell back on their heels and took their place in the ranks of their companions; then the others came and he prayed with them two rakaʿāt while the others guarded them, and then he gave the salām. Thus it was four rakaʿāt for the Prophet ﷺ and two rakaʿāt each for the people. On that day Allah revealed concerning the shortening of the prayer, and commanded the believers to take up the weapons.
* * *
Others said: no, by it was meant the shortening of the prayer of fear in a state of non-severe fear, except that by it was meant the shortening in the prayer of travel and not in the prayer of residence. They said: and that is because the travel prayer outside the state of fear is two rakaʿāt — complete, not shortened — just as the residence prayer is four rakaʿāt in the state of residence. They said: so on a journey, in the state of safety and not of fear, it was shortened and made half relative to the prayer of the settled person, while on a journey it is complete. Then on a journey, in the state of fear, it was shortened and made half relative to the prayer in safety, [namely] one rakʿah.
*Mention of who said that:
10326 - Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Aḥmad ibn al-Mufaḍḍal related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: "And when you travel through the land, there is no blame upon you for shortening" up to His word "a manifest enemy": the prayer, when it is prayed on a journey as two rakaʿāt, is complete. And the shortening is not permitted unless you fear that those who disbelieve will keep you from the prayer. And the shortening [in that case] is one rakʿah: the imam stands up, and his men form two groups, the one group behind him, the other facing the enemy. He prays with whoever is with him one rakʿah, and they go backward toward the others until they stand in the place of their companions, and that walking is the going backward (al-qahqarā). Then the other group comes and prays with the imam another rakʿah, then the imam sits and gives the salām, after which they stand and pray for themselves one rakʿah, and then return to their ranks; and the others stand and add one rakʿah to their [already prayed] rakʿah. The people say [however]: No, it is a single rakʿah; none of them adds anything to his rakʿah; the rakʿah of the imam suffices him. Thus it is two rakaʿāt for the imam and one rakʿah for them. That is the word of Allah: وَإِذَا كُنْتَ فِيهِمْ فَأَقَمْتَ لَهُمُ الصَّلاةَ up to His word وَخُذُوا حِذْرَكُمْ ("And when you are among them and lead the prayer for them ... and take your precaution").
10327 - Aḥmad ibn al-Walīd al-Qurashī related to me, saying: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of Simāk al-Ḥanafī, who said: I asked Ibn ʿUmar about the travel prayer, and he said: Two rakaʿāt, complete, not shortened; the shortening is only the prayer of fear. I said: And what is the prayer of fear? He said: The imam prays with a group one rakʿah, then these come to the place of those others and those others to the place of these, and he prays with them one rakʿah; thus it is two rakaʿāt for the imam and one rakʿah each for each group.
10328 - Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Yaḥyā related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Sālim al-Afṭas, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, who said: How can it be a shortening while they pray two rakaʿāt? It is only one rakʿah.
10329 - Saʿīd ibn ʿAmr al-Sakūnī related to me, saying: Baqiyya related to us, saying: al-Masʿūdī related to us, saying: Yazīd al-Faqīr related to me, on the authority of Jābir ibn ʿAbdallāh, who said: The prayer of fear is one rakʿah.
10330 - Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to me, saying: my uncle ʿAbdallāh ibn Wahb related to me, saying: ʿAmr ibn al-Ḥārith informed me, saying: Bakr ibn Sawāda related to me: that Ziyād ibn Nāfiʿ related to him, on the authority of Kaʿb — and he was among the companions of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, whose hand was cut off on the day of al-Yamāma —: that the prayer of fear is one rakʿah with two prostrations for each group.
And the adherents of this opinion cited as proof from the traditions that which [follows hereafter]:
10331 - Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, saying: Ashʿath ibn Abī al-Shaʿthāʾ related to me, on the authority of al-Aswad ibn Hilāl, on the authority of Thaʿlaba ibn Zahdam al-Yarbūʿī, who said: We were with Saʿīd ibn al-ʿĀṣ in Ṭabaristān, and he said: Which of you knows the prayer of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ in [time of] fear? Then Ḥudhayfa said: I. He arranged us in a row behind him and an [another] row facing the enemy, and prayed with those standing beside him one rakʿah; then these went to the ranks of those others, and those others came and he prayed with them one rakʿah.
10332 - Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Yaḥyā and ʿAbd al-Raḥmān both related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of al-Rukayn ibn al-Rabīʿ, on the authority of al-Qāsim ibn Ḥassān, who said: I asked Zayd ibn Thābit about that, and he related to me the like of it.
10333 - Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of al-Ashʿath, on the authority of al-Aswad ibn Hilāl, on the authority of Thaʿlaba ibn Zahdam al-Yarbūʿī, on the authority of Ḥudhayfa, the like of it.
10334 - Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Yaḥyā related to me, saying: Sufyān related to us, saying: Abū Bakr ibn Abī al-Jahm related to me, on the authority of ʿUbaydallāh ibn ʿAbdallāh, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ prayed at Dhū Qarad; the people formed two rows behind him, a row behind him and a row facing the enemy. He prayed with those standing behind him one rakʿah, then these withdrew to the place of those others, and those others came and he prayed with them one rakʿah; and they did not perform a make-up prayer.
10335 - Tamīm ibn al-Muntaṣir related to us, saying: Isḥāq al-Azraq informed us, on the authority of Sharīk, on the authority of Abū Bakr ibn Ṣukhayr, on the authority of ʿUbaydallāh ibn ʿAbdallāh, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, the like of it.
10336 - Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, saying: Abū ʿAwāna related to us, on the authority of Bukayr ibn al-Akhnas, on the authority of Mujāhid, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: Allah prescribed the prayer through the mouth of your Prophet, peace be upon him: in the situation of residence four [rakaʿāt], on a journey two rakaʿāt, and in [time of] fear one rakʿah.
10337 - Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, saying: Abū ʿAwāna related to us, on the authority of Bukayr ibn al-Akhnas, on the authority of Mujāhid, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, the like of it.
10338 - Naṣr ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Azdī related to us, saying: al-Muḥāribī related to us, on the authority of Ayyūb ibn ʿĀʾidh al-Ṭāʾī, on the authority of Bukayr ibn al-Akhnas, on the authority of Mujāhid, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, the like of it.
10339 - Yaʿqūb ibn Māhān related to us, saying: al-Qāsim ibn Mālik related to us, on the authority of Ayyūb ibn ʿĀʾidh al-Ṭāʾī, on the authority of Bukayr ibn al-Akhnas, on the authority of Mujāhid, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, the like of it.
10340 - Muḥammad ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of al-Ḥakam, on the authority of Yazīd al-Faqīr, on the authority of Jābir ibn ʿAbdallāh: that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ prayed with them the prayer of fear; a row stood before him and a row behind him, and he prayed with those standing behind him one rakʿah with two prostrations; then these stepped forward until they stood in the place of their companions, and those others came until they stood in the place of these, and the Messenger of Allah ﷺ prayed with them one rakʿah with two prostrations, and then he gave the salām. Thus it was two rakaʿāt for the Prophet ﷺ and one rakʿah for them.
10341 - Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Wahb related to us, saying: my uncle ʿAbdallāh ibn Wahb related to me, saying: ʿAmr ibn al-Ḥārith informed me: that Bakr ibn Sawāda related to him, on the authority of Ziyād ibn Nāfiʿ, who related to him on the authority of Abū Mūsā: that Jābir ibn ʿAbdallāh related to them: that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ prayed with them the prayer of fear on the day of [the battle against] Muḥārib and Thaʿlaba, one rakʿah with two prostrations for each group.
10342 - Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad al-Ṭūsī related to me, saying: ʿAbd al-Ṣamad related to us, saying: Saʿīd ibn ʿUbayd al-Hanāʾī related to us, saying: ʿAbdallāh ibn Shaqīq related to us, saying: Abū Hurayra related to us: that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ alighted between Ḍajnān and ʿUsfān, whereupon the polytheists (mushrikīn) said: These have a prayer that is dearer to them than their sons and their virgins, and that is the ʿaṣr; so gather your strength and fall upon them in a single assault. And [then] Jibrīl came to the Prophet ﷺ and commanded him to divide his companions into two halves: he would pray with one part of them while another group stood behind them and took their precaution and weapons; then he would command the other [group] and they would pray with him, while these took their precaution and weapons; thus it would be one rakʿah each for them with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and two rakaʿāt for the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.
* * *
Others said: by it was meant the shortening on a journey, except that by it was meant the shortening in the severity of the battle and at the clashing of the swords; thus it was permitted to the one praying, at the kindling of the battle, to bow one rakʿah by means of a gesture with his head, in whatever direction he turned his face. They said: that is the meaning of His word: "there is no blame upon you for shortening the prayer if you fear that those who disbelieve may put you to trial."
*Mention of who said that:
10343 - Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me, saying: my father related to me, saying: my uncle related to me, saying: my father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: "And when you travel through the land," [to the end of] the verse: the shortening of the prayer [means]: if you meet the enemy and the time of the prayer has come: that you pronounce Allah's greatness (the takbīr) and bow your head by way of a gesture, riding or walking.
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: The most fitting of these opinions which we have mentioned for the interpretation of the verse is the opinion of the one who said: by it the shortening meant was the shortening of its [prescribed] limits. And that is the omission of the full performance of its bowing and prostration, and the permission to perform it in whatever manner is possible, facing the qibla or with the back toward it, riding and walking; and that is in the state of the drawing of the swords, the clashing of the swords, the kindling of the battle, and the charging of the ranks upon one another. It is the state concerning which Allah, hallowed and exalted, has said: فَإِنْ خِفْتُمْ فَرِجَالا أَوْ رُكْبَانًا [Surah al-Baqarah: 239] ("But if you fear, then on foot or riding"), in which He permitted performing the prescribed prayer therein while riding, by means of a gesture at the bowing and the prostration, in accordance with what is transmitted from Ibn ʿAbbās as his interpretation of it.
We have only said that this is the most fitting interpretation of His word "And when you travel through the land, there is no blame upon you for shortening the prayer if you fear that those who disbelieve may put you to trial," because of the indication of the word of Allah, exalted: فَإِذَا اطْمَأْنَنْتُمْ فَأَقِيمُوا الصَّلاةَ ("And when you are secure, then establish the prayer [in full]"), that it is so. For establishing it [in full] is the completion of its [prescribed] limits, of the bowing and the prostration and the rest of its obligations, and not the increasing of its number which was not obligatory in the state of fear.
And if anyone supposes that this is a command from Allah to complete its number which is obligatory upon him in the state of safety, after the withdrawing of the fear, then necessarily the traveler — in the state in which he shortens his prayer relative to the prayer of the settled person — would not have established his prayer [in full], because of the reduction of the number of his prayer from the four that were obligatory upon him in the state of his residence to two rakaʿāt. And that is an opinion which, if anyone utters it, is contrary to that upon which the community (umma) is agreed: namely that of the traveler — when he performs his prayer with full discharge of the [prescribed] limits imposed upon him therein, and shortens its number from four to two — it does not deserve to be said: "he has not established his prayer [in full]." And if that is so, and Allah, exalted, has commanded the one to whom He permitted to shorten his prayer out of fear that his enemy would put him to trial, to establish his prayer [in full] when he is secure and the fear has withdrawn, then it is known that what was imposed upon him of [full] performance of it in the state of tranquility is the same as what was remitted from him in the state of fear. And since what was imposed upon him in the state of tranquility is the [full] establishment of his prayer, what was remitted from him outside the state of tranquility is the omission of the [full] establishment of it. And we have already demonstrated that the omission of the [full] establishment of it is only the omission of its [prescribed] limits, in accordance with what we have set forth.