(may Allah bless him and grant him peace) had four rak'ahs, and the people had two rak'ahs each." Agreed upon. Al-Qadi interpreted this to mean that the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) prayed with them as he would in a resident prayer, and that each group made up two rak'ahs. This is clearly invalid, as it contradicts the nature of the report, the statement of Ahmad, and interprets it in an invalid manner. As for the report, it mentions that he prayed two rak'ahs with each group and does not mention any "making up," then states at the end: "And for the people, two rak'ahs each." As for the statement of Ahmad, he said: "Six or seven ways are reported concerning it, all of which are permissible." Under this interpretation, it would be neither six nor five. Furthermore, he stated: "Every hadith reported in the chapters of the Fear Prayer is permissible," and this is contrary to that interpretation. As for the invalidity of this interpretation, fear necessitates the lightening and shortening of the prayer, as Allah the Almighty said: {And when you travel throughout the land, there is no blame upon you for shortening the prayer, if you fear that those who disbelieve may disrupt you}. According to this interpretation, he replaces the two rak'ahs with four, and completes the shortened prayer; yet it has not been transmitted that the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) completed a travel prayer. So how could it be interpreted here that he completed it, in a situation where there is something present that necessitates lightening it?
Section: The sixth method is that he prays one rak'ah with each group and they do not make up anything, because of what Ibn 'Abbas narrated, saying: The Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) performed the Fear Prayer at Dhi Qarad, and the polytheists were between him and the Qibla. He lined up one row behind him and one row parallel to the enemy. He prayed one rak'ah with them, then those moved to the standing position of these, and these returned to the standing position of those, and he prayed one rak'ah with them, then gave the salutation to them. Thus, for the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) there were two rak'ahs, and for them there was
(21) Omitted from the original. (22) Recorded by Al-Bukhari, in: The Chapter of the Expedition of Dhat al-Riqa', from the Book of Military Expeditions. Sahih al-Bukhari 5/146, 147. And by Muslim, in: The Chapter of the Fear Prayer, from the Book of Traveler's Prayer. Sahih Muslim 1/576. And by Imam Ahmad, in: Al-Musnad 3/364. (23) In the original: "his end". (24) Surah al-Nisa': 101. (25) Dhu Qarad: A body of water two nights' distance from Medina, between it and Khaybar. The Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) reached it when he went out in pursuit of 'Uyaynah when he raided his milch camels. Mu'jam al-Buldan 4/55.
