The Messenger of Allah ﷺ sent me on an errand. When I returned, I found him praying on his mount facing east, with his prostration lower than his bowing.
بعثني رسول الله ﷺ في حاجة، قال: فجئت وهو يصلي على راحلته نحو المشرق، والسجود أخفض من الركوع.
Abu Dawud (1227) and Tirmidhi (351) both narrated it from the hadith of Waki, from Sufyan, from Abu Zubayr, from Jabir, as mentioned. Ibn Khuzayma (1270) also narrated it, and from him Ibn Hibban (2523), from the hadith of Ibn Jurayj, who said, Abu Zubayr informed us that he heard Jabir bin Abdullah say, as the hadith mentions. Its chain is hasan because of Abu Zubayr, who is Muhammad bin Muslim bin Tadrus al-Asadi al-Makki, whose narrations are hasan.Allah the Almighty said, "When you travel through the land, there is no blame on you if you shorten the prayer, if you fear that those who disbelieve may afflict you with harm. Indeed, the disbelievers are ever a manifest enemy to you. When you are among them and lead them in prayer, let a group of them stand with you and let them take their weapons. Then when they have prostrated, let them withdraw behind you, and let another group who have not yet prayed come forward and pray with you, taking precaution and their weapons. Those who disbelieve wish that you would neglect your weapons and your baggage so that they could attack you suddenly. There is no blame on you, if you are troubled by rain or are ill, for setting aside your weapons, but take precaution. Indeed, Allah has prepared a humiliating punishment for the disbelievers" [Nisa 4:101–102].Khattabi said in Maalim Sunan, "The prayer of fear takes several forms, and the Messenger of Allah ﷺ performed it on different days and in various manners, seeking in each the mode most cautious for the prayer and most effective for guarding against the enemy. Despite the variation in their forms, they are unified in meaning."Ibn Hibban said, "These reports are not contradictory or inconsistent with one another. Rather, the Chosen One prayed the prayer of fear repeatedly, in different circumstances and in varying forms, as we have described, intending thereby to teach his community the prayer of fear, namely that it is permissible for them to pray according to any of the nine forms in which the Messenger of Allah ﷺ prayed it during times of fear, depending on the need. A person is free to pray whichever of these forms he wishes when in fear, since they represent a permissible variation without any contradiction or inconsistency among them" (7/145).