What is the meaning of: “The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) prayed eight [rak'ahs] all together and seven [rak'ahs] all together in Madinah”?

Question:
Please clarify what is established in the two Sahihs from the hadith of Ibn 'Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him and his father) that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) prayed eight [rak'ahs] all together and seven [rak'ahs] all together in Madinah. It is stated in a narration in Muslim’s Sahih that this refers to the Dhuhr, 'Asr, Maghrib, and 'Isha' prayers. And in his narration he said: . And in another wording: ? May Allah preserve you and protect you.

Answer:
It is said: Ibn 'Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him and his father) was asked about that, and he said: “So that he would not burden his Ummah.”
The scholars said: The meaning of that is so that he would not put them in difficulty. This is understood to mean that he (peace and blessings be upon him) combined the Dhuhr and 'Asr, and the Maghrib and 'Isha', in Madinah for a reason that necessitated removing the difficulty and hardship from the Companions on that day; whether it was a general illness, or rain, or something else from the excuses that cause hardship for the Companions on that day.
Some of them said: It was a formal combination, meaning that he delayed the Dhuhr until the end of its time and brought forward the 'Asr to the beginning of its time, and delayed the Maghrib until the end of its time and brought forward the 'Isha' to the beginning of its time. Al-Nasa'i narrated that with a sound chain from Ibn 'Abbas, the narrator of the hadith, and it is a possible interpretation.
Ibn 'Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him and his father) did not mention in this hadith that this action was repeated by the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him); rather, its apparent meaning is that it occurred from him only once.
Imam Abu 'Isa al-Tirmidhi (may Allah have mercy on him) said, meaning: There is no hadith in the book—meaning the Jami'—on which the scholars agreed to leave acting upon it, except this hadith, and another hadith regarding the killing of the one who drinks intoxicants on the fourth offense.
And his intention is: That the scholars agreed that it is not permissible to combine [prayers] except for a legal excuse, and that they agreed that the combination of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) mentioned in this hadith is understood to have occurred for an excuse; reconciling it with the many other authentic hadiths indicating that he (peace and blessings be upon him) used to pray every prayer in its time and did not combine two prayers except for an excuse. And so did his Rightly Guided Caliphs and all his Companions (may Allah be pleased with them), and the scholars after them followed this path, and they prohibited combining [prayers] except for one who has an excuse, except for a group from whom the author of al-Nayl transmitted the permissibility of combining [prayers] if it is not made a habit or custom, and this is a rejected opinion due to the previous evidence and the consensus of those before them.
And by this, the questioner knows that this hadith contains nothing that contradicts the authentic, explicit hadiths indicating the prohibition of combining the two prayers without a valid legal excuse. Rather, it is understood in accordance with them and not in contradiction to them; for the verbal and practical Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) corroborates one another, explains one another, and the absolute in them is restricted by the qualified, and the general by the specific. Likewise, the clear Book of Allah corroborates one part of it with another and explains one part of it with another. Allah the Exalted said: [Hud:1] And He (peace be upon him) said: the verse [Al-Zumar:23].
And the meaning is: That despite its precision and detail, some of it resembles some of it and confirms some of it, just as the Sunnah of His Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) is exactly the same. And success is from Allah.