The Ruling on Shortening the Prayer While Traveling: Is the Criterion Distance or Time?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner:
Yes. Of course, the scholars distinguished between long travel and short travel.
The Shaykh:
There is no distinction; if one reaches the distance, if one reaches the distance, that is the basis for the ruling. But some scholars say that the criterion is not the distance, but the time, the time of travel, if it is.
Travel requires time to cover the distance, and it requires effort and hardship, so a dispensation is granted in it without regard to its distance, as stated by Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah, Ibn al-Qayyim, the author of al-Mughni, and others.
They do not see the restriction to two or three days, but rather they say the ruling is tied to what is called travel, which is what a person exerts effort to travel in and carries provisions for, whether it is long or short. As for the majority, they do not consider the distance nor look at the time, because one can cover the distance slowly and one can cover it quickly. For this reason, the author of the Sharh al-Zad says, "Even if he covers it in one hour." He said this in his time, before planes and cars came. But they call this hypothetical jurisprudence, or estimated jurisprudence, or hypothetical jurisprudence. And what was hypothetical has now come to pass; what was not easy has now become easy.
So there is no difference for them between the length of time or the amount of time; rather, the criterion for them is the distance. And this is better, without doubt, this is better. If we followed the opinion based on time, there would be no shortening of the prayer now, no breaking of the fast in Ramadan, and no shortening of the prayer, because the distance has increased greatly now; months are covered in hours.
The distance has been greatly reduced and has disappeared. So if we followed the words of Shaykh Taqi al-Din, Ibn al-Qayyim, al-Mughni, and others, there would be no breaking of the fast in this era, even though the evidence of the Shari'ah is general until the Hour stands, and it is general and does not become invalid in any time, because Allah made the Shari'ah for all people and all races until the Hour stands. Therefore, the opinion of the majority is stronger for this reason, that the distance must be defined. Yes.
Yes. Of course, the scholars distinguished between long travel and short travel.
The Shaykh:
There is no distinction; if one reaches the distance, if one reaches the distance, that is the basis for the ruling. But some scholars say that the criterion is not the distance, but the time, the time of travel, if it is.
Travel requires time to cover the distance, and it requires effort and hardship, so a dispensation is granted in it without regard to its distance, as stated by Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah, Ibn al-Qayyim, the author of al-Mughni, and others.
They do not see the restriction to two or three days, but rather they say the ruling is tied to what is called travel, which is what a person exerts effort to travel in and carries provisions for, whether it is long or short. As for the majority, they do not consider the distance nor look at the time, because one can cover the distance slowly and one can cover it quickly. For this reason, the author of the Sharh al-Zad says, "Even if he covers it in one hour." He said this in his time, before planes and cars came. But they call this hypothetical jurisprudence, or estimated jurisprudence, or hypothetical jurisprudence. And what was hypothetical has now come to pass; what was not easy has now become easy.
So there is no difference for them between the length of time or the amount of time; rather, the criterion for them is the distance. And this is better, without doubt, this is better. If we followed the opinion based on time, there would be no shortening of the prayer now, no breaking of the fast in Ramadan, and no shortening of the prayer, because the distance has increased greatly now; months are covered in hours.
The distance has been greatly reduced and has disappeared. So if we followed the words of Shaykh Taqi al-Din, Ibn al-Qayyim, al-Mughni, and others, there would be no breaking of the fast in this era, even though the evidence of the Shari'ah is general until the Hour stands, and it is general and does not become invalid in any time, because Allah made the Shari'ah for all people and all races until the Hour stands. Therefore, the opinion of the majority is stronger for this reason, that the distance must be defined. Yes.
Source
التفرقة بين السفر الطويل والسفر القصير — alfawzan.live
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.