so I asked Saʿīd: Why did he do that? He said: I asked Ibn ʿAbbās as you asked me, and he said: He wanted to avoid putting any hardship on his community." Narrated by Muslim and al-Bayhaqī. It is further strengthened by the narration of ʿAmr ibn Huraym from Saʿīd with the wording: "that Ibn ʿAbbās combined the ẓuhr and ʿaṣr prayers due to an engagement, and Ibn ʿAbbās claimed..." and he mentioned the ḥadīth similarly. Narrated by al-Nasāʾī with a sound isnād. His statement: "due to an engagement" is clear evidence that his (ṣallá Allāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam) combining of prayers was not due to rain, otherwise Ibn ʿAbbās would not have used it as evidence, as is apparent. And Allāh knows best. The addition by Abū al-Nuʿmān can also be critiqued due to its contradiction with the narration of Sufyān ibn ʿUyaynah, which is forthcoming: The other matter: Sufyān ibn ʿUyaynah added from ʿAmr ibn Dīnār from Jābir ibn Zayd from Ibn ʿAbbās..: "I said: O Abū al-Shaʿthāʾ (the nickname of Jābir)! I think he delayed the ẓuhr and hastened the ʿaṣr, and delayed the maghrib and hastened the ʿishāʾ? He said: And I think so too." It was recorded by Ibn Abī Shaybah in "al-Muṣannaf" (2/456) and from him by Muslim: Ibn ʿUyaynah narrated it to us. He was followed by ʿAlī ibn ʿAbdullāh who said: Sufyān narrated it to us. It was recorded by al-Bukhārī (1174). Qutaybah disagreed with them, saying: Sufyān narrated it to us, except that he said: ".. he delayed the ẓuhr.." etc., he included it in the ḥadīth and made it part of the words of Ibn ʿAbbās, while it is actually from the words of Abū al-Shaʿthāʾ according to his assumption