His property in Taif
He is a native of Mecca, from where he has migrated and he was not a native
of Taif, and between him and Taif there is a distance of few days’ travel. Suppose
he has property in Mecca or in even Mina and Arafah, where he recited the
prayer in full, but having property in a place, as long as one does not live there, it does not end the journey and as Shafei has narrated in his Al-Umm:1
Companions of Prophet (s.a.w.a.), along with him, during the year of the
conquest of Mecca and in the Hajj performed with Abu Bakr, they prayed the
shortened prayer, and it was in the condition that some of them were having one
or few houses in Mecca or had relatives over there.
As for the worry that pilgrims from Yemen and those who had not yet
mastered rituals of Hajj, lest they say that: the obligation of resident is to pray
two units of prayer and this is the leader of Muslims, who recites in this way:
Indeed, the concession to this fear during lifetime of Prophet whereas people had
recently embraced Islam and some Islamic laws had not reached them as yet, and
also during the time of Abu Bakr and Umar, it was more preferable.
But the Messenger of Allah (s.a.w.a.), after explaining the law to resident or
traveler, did not take this worry into consideration, and also those, who followed
him, and indeed Holy Prophet (s.a.w.a.) during the days, he stayed in Mecca, he
prayed prayer of two units; then he said: O people of Mecca, you recite the prayer
in full, we are travelers.2 Or he said: O folks of this place, recite the prayer as
four units, because we are travelers.
Furthermore, if the Caliph wanted to save those weak people, who did not
know that prayer was legislated in form of four units, indeed he has cast them in
ignorance about prayer of a traveler, and from this aspect, this practical lesson of
his, is itself a kind of falling into ignorance.
These were reasonings of Caliph when Abdur Rahman bin Auf objected
against him (and demanded evidence for his claim) and these reasonings were
rejected in his presence, and Abdur Rahman rejected his arguments completely
and he could not saying anything, except: This is my viewpoint, in which I believe in.
Just as when Maula Ameerul Momineen (a.s.) came to him and defeated him
through his reasonings and said: “By God, neither a new thing has cropped up,
nor such was thing was allowed before. We were with Prophet and we saw him
recite prayers in travel two units and after him, Abu Bakr and Umar also followed
this practice and you also during the initial part of your Caliphate followed this
custom, but from which you have deviated.”
He only said: “This is my opinion.”3
These were reasonings mentioned to show heresies of Uthman in a positive
light. And except for disgrace and humility this statement has brought nothing.
“This is my opinion,” but after him, he had friends, who brought other excuses
for him, which are thinner than spider web and the Caliph himself had not
brought them to vanquish his critics. But how many statements predecessors have left for future people;4 among those reasonings being:
1. He was the leader of people, and when a leader arrives at a place, his acts
and practice and place of his domination is as if it is his native place.
Allamah Amini says: The law of Shariah is framed by religion and it is not
founded on baseless fabricated estimations. Leader and subjects, both are equal in
divine law, on the contrary, the leader is more worthy of following the laws, so
that people may follow and he should be model for them.
Messenger of Allah (s.a.w.a.) is the leader of all creatures, without any
doubt and in this condition, he recited the prayer in shortened form and no one
attributed to him that he recited prayer in four units in Mecca, Mina, Arafah or in
some other place, and only what he made a practice for Ummah, will be
followed.
In Zaadul Maad, Ibne Qayyim, and in Fathul Bari, Ibne Hajar have rejected
this reasoning in the same way.5
2. The shortened prayer is a concession to traveler and not resolution [he is
allowed to recite shortened prayer and not that it is obligatory to recite as
shortened]; some people have mentioned this reasoning and Mohib Tabari has
written in Riyaz:6
“His reasoning in reciting the prayer in full is clear: because he has not
regarded shortening of prayer during journey as not obligatory.”
This is opposed to the clarifications of Shariat, proven Sunnah of Holy
Prophet (s.a.w.a.), and statements of companions; as is clear from the following:
1. It is narrated from Umar that he said: “The prayer of a traveler is two
unit…on the basis of the statement of Muhammad.” In another version, it is
mentioned: “On the basis of the statement of the Prophet.”7
2. It is narrated from Abdullah Ibne Umar that: When the Messenger of
Allah (s.a.w.a.) left Medina he did not exceed two unit in prayer (in four unit
prayer) till he returned to Medina.8
3. It is narrated from Anas bin Malik that: “We traveled from Medina to
Mecca with the Messenger of Allah (s.a.w.a.). We always recited the prayer in
units of two till we returned to Medina.”9
4. It is narrated from Abdullah Ibne Umar that: “Indeed, the Messenger of
Allah (s.a.w.a.) came to us while we were in deviation, he guided and taught us
and among what he taught us was the following: Allah, the Mighty and Sublime commanded us to recite prayer as two units during journeys.”10
If leave and approval had been received from the Prophet, it would not have
remained concealed from the elder companions that they should criticized him for
that and refuted his reasonings and among them was Maula Ameerul Momineen
(a.s.), who is the gate of the city of knowledge of the Prophet and after His
Eminence, is point of reference for religious laws
Is it possible that rules of prayers should remain unknown to him whereas he
was the first to have prayed with the Messenger of Allah (s.a.w.a.)?
So much so, that the Caliph himself did not bring this weak reasoning and if
he knew something from these statements, he would have definitely mentioned it
to his critic and would not have delayed, and when his arguments were
exhausted, he would not have said: This is my opinion. And one, who approved
this verdict, did so only to ward off criticism; without it being an approval of the
matter.
After these traditions, you will understand the value of the statement of
Mohib Tabari in Riyazun Nazara:11
“This is an issue of personal deduction and that is why scholars have
different opinion about it; and the viewpoint of Uthman regarding that does not
cause him to be regarded as disbeliever or transgressor.”
It has remained concealed from these foolish people that personal deduction
(Ijtihad) is not valid before specific texts (Nass) and this matter, till the heresies
of Uthman, was not contradictory, on the contrary it was a proven Sunnah
according to all companions that the traveler should perform shortened prayer,
and the act of Caliph was only an opinion and view, which contradicted the
Sunnah of Muhammad (s.a.w.a.).