If one’s workplace is 50 kilometers away from his home, is it permissible for him to shorten the prayer?

Question:
My workplace is about fifty kilometers from my home, so is it permissible for me to shorten the prayer? And if it is not permissible, what is the ruling on the prayers I have already shortened, which are numerous?

Answer:
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds. May Allah send prayers and blessings upon our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and all his Companions. As for what follows, there is no doubt that Allah the Exalted has permitted the traveler to shorten the four-rak'ah prayer. Allah the Exalted said: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) used to shorten the prayer in his travels from the time he left Madinah until he returned to it. So shortening the prayer while traveling is a established Sunnah and a dispensation from Allah the Exalted, which He has bestowed upon His servants as a relief for them and out of mercy for them. The scholars (may Allah have mercy on them) estimated the distance based on their independent legal reasoning. The ruling issued in this land is that the distance for shortening the prayer is what reaches the journey of two days, traveling with the pace of mounts. This is specified as approximately eighty kilometers. So if the travel reaches this distance or more, the prayer is shortened in it. If it is less than that, the prayer is not shortened in it, because it is not called travel. Based on this, what the questioner mentioned, that he used to shorten the prayer at a distance of fifty kilometers, is an error on his part. It was obligatory for him to ask before doing this. But since that has happened from him, yes, yes, and the prayers have multiplied, what we advise is that he not do this in the future. As for what has passed, we hope that Allah will forgive it. This is because, as we mentioned, there is scholarly disagreement in this matter, and he did this out of ignorance on his part. The prayers have multiplied greatly, and it is difficult for him to repeat them. So what we hold is that he should act accordingly in the future by not shortening except at a distance of eighty kilometers or more. As for what has passed, we hope that Allah will forgive it. Yes.