Between Makkah and Jeddah: Is it considered a distance for shortening the prayer?
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Fatwa No. ( 20319 )
Q 1: I traveled from Makkah to Jeddah in the company of two noble colleagues, but I and they are far from having complete knowledge of jurisprudence in many matters of worship related to travel, such as shortening the prayer, combining prayers, and the like. However, I had previously accompanied some jurists on a similar journey, and I saw them
shorten the four-rak'ah prayer and combine one of the two combinations according to the current or the later obligatory prayer. I wanted to do the same as them on my journey with these two colleagues, but they did not allow me to do so, which forced me to differ from them and pray alone, shortening the 'Isha' prayer after Maghrib. Their argument for this was that they do not believe that the journey between Makkah and Jeddah is a distance for shortening the prayer, and that in their view it does not reach eighty kilometers, even though the distance, according to the words of experts from the Haram to the airport, is 100 km, and from al-'Aziziyah in Makkah , where we departed, to the University District in Jeddah, is approximately ninety kilometers. What is your opinion, Your Eminence, on this?
A 1: The distance for which shortening the prayer is prescribed in travel is that which reaches a two-day journey for a mount, and it is estimated at approximately eighty kilometers. The distance is calculated from the departure from the built-up area from which the person traveled to the first inhabited area of the town the person intended to reach. Therefore, traveling from Makkah to Jeddah and vice versa is not considered travel in our time; due to the extension of the built-up areas of both towns, such that traveling on the road between the two towns does not reach the aforementioned distance for shortening, but is far less than it, being about sixty kilometers. Accordingly, it is not prescribed to take the dispensation of travel, such as shortening the prayer and others.
Q 2: Regarding the traveler, is he required to stop at the first entry of the time to perform the prayer , or does he continue in his travel, even if the distance is like the distance between Makkah and Jeddah , and then pray shortened and combined as a combination of delay according to
the second obligatory prayer?
A 2: If the time for a prayer that is combined with the one after it, such as Zuhr with 'Asr and Maghrib with 'Isha', enters upon the traveler while he is traveling on the road, he may delay the first prayer to combine it with the one after it. However, if he reaches his town before he has prayed the prayer shortened, it is obligatory for him to complete the prayer and it is not permissible for him to shorten it, because he has become a resident. And success is from Allah, and may Allah send prayers and blessings upon our Prophet Muhammad and his family and companions.
Q 1: I traveled from Makkah to Jeddah in the company of two noble colleagues, but I and they are far from having complete knowledge of jurisprudence in many matters of worship related to travel, such as shortening the prayer, combining prayers, and the like. However, I had previously accompanied some jurists on a similar journey, and I saw them
shorten the four-rak'ah prayer and combine one of the two combinations according to the current or the later obligatory prayer. I wanted to do the same as them on my journey with these two colleagues, but they did not allow me to do so, which forced me to differ from them and pray alone, shortening the 'Isha' prayer after Maghrib. Their argument for this was that they do not believe that the journey between Makkah and Jeddah is a distance for shortening the prayer, and that in their view it does not reach eighty kilometers, even though the distance, according to the words of experts from the Haram to the airport, is 100 km, and from al-'Aziziyah in Makkah , where we departed, to the University District in Jeddah, is approximately ninety kilometers. What is your opinion, Your Eminence, on this?
A 1: The distance for which shortening the prayer is prescribed in travel is that which reaches a two-day journey for a mount, and it is estimated at approximately eighty kilometers. The distance is calculated from the departure from the built-up area from which the person traveled to the first inhabited area of the town the person intended to reach. Therefore, traveling from Makkah to Jeddah and vice versa is not considered travel in our time; due to the extension of the built-up areas of both towns, such that traveling on the road between the two towns does not reach the aforementioned distance for shortening, but is far less than it, being about sixty kilometers. Accordingly, it is not prescribed to take the dispensation of travel, such as shortening the prayer and others.
Q 2: Regarding the traveler, is he required to stop at the first entry of the time to perform the prayer , or does he continue in his travel, even if the distance is like the distance between Makkah and Jeddah , and then pray shortened and combined as a combination of delay according to
the second obligatory prayer?
A 2: If the time for a prayer that is combined with the one after it, such as Zuhr with 'Asr and Maghrib with 'Isha', enters upon the traveler while he is traveling on the road, he may delay the first prayer to combine it with the one after it. However, if he reaches his town before he has prayed the prayer shortened, it is obligatory for him to complete the prayer and it is not permissible for him to shorten it, because he has become a resident. And success is from Allah, and may Allah send prayers and blessings upon our Prophet Muhammad and his family and companions.
Source
www.alifta.gov.sa
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.