When Muawiya came to us as a pilgrim, we set out with him to Mecca. He led us in the Zuhr prayer with two rakats, then went off to Dar an-Nadwa.Now, when Uthman began praying the full prayer, whenever he came to Mecca he would pray Zuhr, Asr, and Isha as four rakats each. But when he went out to Mina and Arafat, he would shorten the prayer. Then when he finished the Hajj and stayed at Mina, he would again pray the full prayer until he left Mecca.When Muawiya led us in Zuhr with two rakats, Marwan bin Hakam and Amr bin Uthman went up to him and said, "No one has criticized your cousin with anything uglier than what you have just done."He asked them, "What is that?"They said, "Don't you know that he prayed the full prayer in Mecca?"He replied, "Woe to you both! Was what I did anything other than what I prayed alongside the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and alongside Abu Bakr and Umar ?"They said, "But your cousin used to pray it in full, and your differing from him is a fault."So Muawiya went out for Asr and led us in praying it as four rakats.
لما قدم علينا معاوية حاجا قدمنا معه مكة، قال: فصلى بنا الظهر ركعتين، ثم انصرف إلى دار الندوة. قال: وكان عثمان حين أتم الصلاة إذا قدم مكة صلى بها الظهر والعصر والعشاء الآخرة أربعا أربعا، فإذا خرج إلى منى وعرفات قصر الصلاة، فإذا فرغ من الحج وأقام بمنى أتم الصلاة حتى يخرج من مكة، فلما صلى بنا الظهر ركعتين نهض إليه مروان بن الحكم وعمرو بن عثمان فقالا له: ما عاب أحد ابن عمك بأقبح ما عبته به! فقال لهما: وما ذاك؟ قال: فقالا له: ألم تعلم أنه أتم الصلاة بمكة؟ قال: فقال لهما: ويحكما! وهل كان غير ما صنعت قد صليتهما مع رسول الله ﷺ ومع أبي بكر وعمر رضي الله عنهما قالا: فإن ابن عمك قد كان أتمها وإن خلافك إياه له عيب! قال: فخرج معاوية إلى العصر فصلاها بنا أربعا.
Imam Ahmad narrated it (16857), and Tabarani in Al-Kabir (19/333), both from the hadith of Yaqub bin Ibrahim, who said, my father narrated to us, from Ibn Ishaq, who said, Yahya bin Abbad bin Abdullah bin Zubayr narrated to us, from his father Abbad, and he related it. The wording given is Ahmad's, and Tabarani's wording is abridged. Its chain is hasan because of Muhammad bin Ishaq, for he is a mudallis, but he stated his source explicitly, and Hafiz also graded it hasan in Al-Fath. Haythami mentioned it in Al-Majmu (2/156–157) and said, Ahmad narrated it, and Tabarani narrated part of it in Al-Kabir, and the men of Ahmad's chain are considered reliable.It is understood from this hadith that Uthman held the view that shortening the prayer was specific to one who was actually traveling and on the move, whereas one who stayed in a place during his journey took on the ruling of a resident and so prayed in full. See Al-Fath (2/571).