Umm al-Mu’minin Sayyidah Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) described some aspects of the Hajj of the Noble Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and said that when the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) ordered his noble companions (may Allah be pleased with them) to depart, the people began to set out. When the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) passed by the House of Allah at the time of the morning prayer (Fajr) during departure, he performed Tawaf of it. Then the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) came out from the House of Allah, mounted (his ride), and set out towards Madinah Munawwarah.

Imam Abu Bakr (may Allah have mercy on him) says: We have not heard regarding any jurist or scholar of religion that he considered the area after the contiguous population and buildings of a city to be part of that city, even if the area after the population is within the boundaries of that city and among the lands attributed to it. To our knowledge, there is no difference of opinion among the scholars that if a person sets out from a city with the intention of travel and goes beyond the contiguous population and buildings, then he may shorten the prayer (qasr), even if the land after the population is within the boundaries of that city.

Similarly, to our knowledge, there is no difference of opinion among the scholars that when a person wishes to return to a city and enters some of its lands but has not entered the population, and he is still outside the limits of the contiguous population, then he may shorten the prayer until he enters the joined population, and I do not know of any difference among the scholars in this matter: that if a person sets out from Makkah Mukarramah with the intention of travel, whether he is a resident of Makkah or a temporary resident there, he may shorten the prayer within the boundaries of Makkah—when he has left the stations of Makkah Mukarramah and left all the population behind him, even if he goes far within the boundaries of the Haram, he may shorten the prayer.

When the Noble Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) came to Makkah Mukarramah for his Hajj, he left Makkah Mukarramah on the Day of Tarwiyah. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) left all the population of Makkah Mukarramah behind and set out for Mina, while Mina is not included within the city of Makkah Mukarramah. Therefore, from a juristic point of view, it is not correct to say about a person who has set out from the city with the intention of travel and for whom it was permissible to shorten the prayer, that when he has left the population of the city, he is still within the city. Because if he is still within the city, then it is not correct for him to shorten the prayer until he leaves the city.

Therefore, from a juristic perspective, the correct view is that the Noble Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) stayed in Makkah Mukarramah for only three complete days and nights during the Farewell Hajj—on the 5th, 6th, and 7th dates. Part of the 4th date except for its night, and the night of the 8th date and part of its day. Therefore, there was no firm intention to stay for four days and nights in any one city.

Thus, this narration, when you reflect upon it, does not contradict the statement of the people of Hijaz that whoever firmly intends to stay at one place for four days should perform the complete prayer. Because their opponents say that if a person firmly intends to stay in a city for ten days, and intends to stay for four days outside that city in lands belonging to that city, which are at a double distance like that between Makkah Mukarramah and Mina, not a single distance, and spends a night and a day at a third place which is at the distance of Arafat from Mina, then he may shorten the prayer. And according to them, this is not a firm intention to stay at one place for fifteen days, because in their view, whoever intends to stay for fifteen days, it becomes obligatory for him to perform the complete prayer.