What is the ruling on shortening the prayer?

The questioner : What is the ruling on shortening the prayer, O Shaykh?

The Shaykh : Shortening the prayer?

The questioner : What is its ruling?

The Shaykh : ... When we prayed the 'Asr prayer today, because we see that shortening the prayer is obligatory.

The questioner : What is the evidence, O Shaykh?

The Shaykh : The evidence that comes to mind includes the hadith of 'A'ishah (may Allah be pleased with her): "The prayer was made obligatory as two rak'ahs, two rak'ahs, and it was left as such in travel, and increased in residence." It also includes the fact that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) continued throughout his blessed life, in all his travels, to adhere to shortening the prayer. This is a practical confirmation by him (peace and blessings be upon him) of the aforementioned hadith of the Lady 'A'ishah: "The prayer was made obligatory as two rak'ahs, two rak'ahs." It also includes the hadith in Muslim that a man from the Tabi'un—or perhaps a Companion, as I think—said to 'Umar: "If I had met the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family), I would have asked him." He is a Tabi'i, and Allah knows best. 'Umar said: "What would you have asked him?" He said: "I would have asked him why we shorten the prayer when we are safe?" 'Umar said: "I asked the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) about that, and he said: . So our Lord (Mighty and Majestic) bestowed a favor upon His servants; He lightened for them what had previously been conditioned by fear. He lightened it for them by giving them the gift of shortening the prayer, even if the previous condition, which was fear, had ceased. . Some scholars say regarding the previous hadith: . The indication from this hadith that shortening the prayer is obligatory comes from two aspects:
The first aspect is that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) ordered the Muslims to accept the gift of their Lord. How can it be imagined that a Muslim would refuse this gift from his Lord, when his Lord has bestowed a favor upon him and given it to him as a gift, yet he does not accept this gift? So when the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) ordered the acceptance of this gift, the command—as we all know, if Allah wills—its default ruling is obligation, unless there is a clear indicator that shifts the command from obligation to a lesser ruling, such as a recommended practice (sunnah), a recommended act (mustahabb), a recommended act (mandub), or guidance. An example of this is given in the dealings of some people with their leaders and kings. If a righteous Muslim king gave a gift to one of the Muslims and he refused it, there is no doubt that this refusal would be unacceptable to that righteous king or kind leader. So how is the situation when the Muslims do not accept the gift of their Lord and Creator (Blessed and Exalted is He)? Therefore, this hadith is one of the hadiths that every Muslim must keep before his eyes and not disdain this divine obligation, saying: "I am free to choose; if I wish, I will complete the prayer, and if I wish, I will shorten it." This is from one perspective.
From another perspective: there is nothing in the Islamic Shari'ah where a doubled act of worship is better than a lesser act, yet the Sunnah is the opposite of that. In other words, some opinions in some schools of jurisprudence say: "It is permissible to shorten and it is permissible to complete, and completing is better." How can this be? The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) continued to adhere to shortening in all his travels. How can it be imagined that completing is better? If it were said that it is merely permissible, the matter would be somewhat less serious. I say somewhat less serious; because we will then ask: why do you bring extra rak'ahs beyond the Sunnah of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) when you have no evidence for them? Is this not nonsense and a waste of time, in addition to contradicting the Sunnah? From this, we know the virtue and value of the word of one of the Companions—and I think it is 'Abdullah ibn 'Umar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with them both)—who said: "If I were to recite tasbih, I would have completed the prayer." This is another issue: does the traveler pray the voluntary prayers and the regular voluntary prayers (rawatib)? Ibn 'Umar said: "If I were to recite tasbih," meaning: if it were permissible for me to recite tasbih; meaning to perform the voluntary prayers, I would have completed the obligatory prayer. But neither completing the obligatory prayer from the Sunnah is a Sunnah, nor performing the regular voluntary prayers is a Sunnah. Therefore, to complete his statement (may Allah be pleased with him)—and here is the point: "I wish I had two rak'ahs from my prayer that were accepted."
Among the hadiths related to the obligation of shortening the prayer—and not completing it—is what a group of hadith scholars, such as Abu Ja'far al-Tahawi (may Allah have mercy on him), narrated in "Sharh al-Ma'ani" and others, with a sound chain from Ibn 'Umar (may Allah be pleased with him), that he said: "Shortening the prayer in travel is a Sunnah, and whoever leaves the Sunnah has committed disbelief." This does not mean here—and here is a subtle point that we, students of knowledge, must be aware of—that the statement of this Companion: "Whoever leaves the Sunnah has committed disbelief" should be interpreted using the later jurisprudential terminology that was agreed upon without dispute. We do not deny this terminology, but we want to point out that it is not permissible to interpret the texts of hadiths, whether marfu' (traced to the Prophet) or mawquf (stopping at a Companion), with jurisprudential terminology. This does not mean here that whoever leaves the Sunnah—for example, whoever leaves the Sunnah of the Zuhr prayer—has committed disbelief. It does not mean this at all. Rather, what this means is in accordance with the methodology of his Prophet (may the prayers and peace of Allah be upon him) in the well-known hadith: .
Perhaps you remember the occasion on which our Messenger (may the prayers and peace of Allah be upon him) said this hadith. It is the story of the group—and I will not prolong the story for you—who agreed that one of them would stand in night prayer and not sleep, the second would fast forever and not break his fast, and the third would not marry women. They agreed among themselves on this and left. When the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) returned to his wives and they informed him (peace and blessings be upon him) of what the group had agreed upon among themselves, he ascended the pulpit and said (peace and blessings be upon him): . It is very clear that the intended meaning of the word of the Messenger here is , meaning: my methodology and my way that I lived in conveying the Shari'ah of my Lord (Blessed and Exalted is He). This is what Ibn 'Umar means: the methodology that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) followed regarding prayer in travel is shortening. Whoever turns away from this methodology has committed disbelief. Therefore, in my belief and opinion, a Muslim should not hesitate to accept this virtue and this gift from Allah (Mighty and Majestic). He should always and forever adhere to shortening the prayer... to realize these evidences that we have mentioned. There may be other hadiths or evidences that do not come to mind now, and perhaps what we have mentioned is sufficient.