The Ruling on Tayammum, Breaking the Fast, Combining Prayers, and Shortening Prayers for Bedouin Travelers

The questioner:
If we are in the desert and the water is eighty kilometers away, and sometimes thirty, and we have water that we drink from and use to water our animals, do we perform tayammum for prayer since we travel frequently? And is it permissible for us to break our fast in Ramadan and pay expiation instead of fasting with thirty sa' (a dry measure of about 3 kg)? And is it permissible for us to combine and shorten prayers in our movements searching for grass? We are in the desert, and the water is eighty kilometers away, and sometimes thirty, and we have water that we drink from and use to water our animals, do we perform tayammum for prayer since we are constantly moving?

The Shaykh:
It is obligatory for you to perform wudu (the ablution for prayer) from this water if it contains hair; you should perform wudu alongside drinking and cooking. If the water becomes scarce and only what you need for eating and drinking remains, then tayammum is your concern if the water is far from you. You must strive to bring water according to your capacity, whether by camel or two, or according to ability; each person brings water for drinking and wudu according to his capacity. The water was carried with them, and the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and the Muslims carried water, so each person carries according to his capacity. If the water becomes tight and scarce, one should be content with what is available, and leave from the water what is sufficient for his urgent need, the drinking of his animals, and their bread and cooking and . However, laxity is not permissible. Many people have plenty of water but do not perform wudu, and this is a mistake. As long as water is available, wudu is obligatory. If it becomes scarce and only what is needed for the urgent requirement remains, then tayammum is permissible for you while seeking water, according to the expression. The second point, this is the second point. Regarding the limit of distance, meaning the distance of the water from the place, it is based on hardship.

The questioner:
Is it permissible for us to break our fast in Ramadan and pay expiation instead of fasting with thirty sa' (a dry measure of about 3 kg)?

The Shaykh:
Breaking the fast in Ramadan is not permissible if you are settled near the water or in any place where fasting is obligatory for you, like the people of towns and villages. However, if you are traveling and moving, you may break your fast, like travelers. If you move from one water source to a distant one that counts as travel, like a person moving from al-Qasim to al-Madinah, or from al-Madinah to Jeddah, which are distant places, then a person in the state of travel may break his fast and shorten his prayers. But if you settle for more than four days with the intention of staying, then fast and complete your prayers, according to the majority of scholars. If you depart from one place to another, you shorten and break your fast at the time of departure. If a person departs from a distant place that counts as travel, eighty kilometers, ninety kilometers, one hundred kilometers, or similar, this counts as travel. So if he departs from one place to another, he shortens and breaks his fast. Likewise, if he stays for one, two, or three days in a place and then departs, he shortens and breaks his fast, provided he does not intend to settle, in which case he acts as a resident.

The presenter:
Yes.