The distance for shortening the prayer while traveling

Question:
Your Eminence the Shaykh, the questioner says: If we go out for a trip for a distance of more than eighty kilometers, is it permissible for us to shorten the prayer?

Answer:
If a believer travels, shortening the prayer is recommended for him. For the believer, male or female, shortening the prayer is a recommended practice (sunnah). The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) used to shorten the prayer when he traveled, and so did the Companions. Allah says: So the recommended practice for the traveler is to shorten. If he travels a distance where shortening the prayer is the recommended practice, that is approximately eighty kilometers, which is a day and a night for a mount, as a group of the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them and grant them satisfaction) issued a ruling to that effect. The distance and its measure now is approximately eighty kilometers. So if he travels this distance or farther, shortening is permitted for him. He prays the midday prayer (Zuhr) as two units, the afternoon prayer ('Asr) as two units, and the night prayer ('Isha') as two units.