Do you prefer a specific limit for the dispensation in travel, or do you leave it to custom?
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The Shaykh : Please go ahead.
The questioner : You mentioned, O Shaykh, in your book *Al-Silsilah al-Sahihah*, in the first volume, regarding the hadith of Muslim, the hadith of Anas:Bulugh al-Maram 2:343 the narration regarding shortening the prayer. Then you mentioned and quoted the words of al-Khatib al-Baghdadi in *Al-Ma'alam*, and you refuted him by saying: "If the hadith is established, it is an explicit text on the issue, but I have not seen anyone who held this view". So you said: "If the hadith is established from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), it is to be acted upon, and there is no regard for those who did not hold this view".
The Shaykh : Which hadith?
The questioner : The hadith of Anas was that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him)
The Shaykh : It is established, and if it is established, that is the case.
The questioner : It is established, but what I understood just now, and what is present in my mind now, is that in the end, you seemed to lean toward what the Shaykh al-Islam and Ibn al-Qayyim held, which is that it reverts to custom. So I do not know whether the apparent text of the hadith is to be taken regarding the rulings of the distance of travel?
The Shaykh : I have no doubt about the authenticity of the hadith, but everything I have spoken about is from the jurisprudential perspective, and it does not indicate that this distance is the distance for shortening the prayer, meaning that if one travels such a distance and then returns, this distance would be considered a distance for shortening. We say that the hadith does not indicate this, despite its authenticity. The reference for that, as you pointed out, is that I quoted from Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah and Ibn al-Qayyim al-Jawziyyah: the reference for determining the distance of travel is custom. So this hadith did not come out as a system or a rule, but rather this occurred from the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). There may be a long outing that is not travel, and there may be a short outing that is travel. So that reverts to custom, not to a distance that a person covers. The research on this is long, and it is sufficient for you to know the summary we arrived at, relying on the school of Ibn Taymiyyah and Ibn al-Qayyim al-Jawziyyah (may Allah have mercy on them).
The questioner : You mentioned, O Shaykh, in your book *Al-Silsilah al-Sahihah*, in the first volume, regarding the hadith of Muslim, the hadith of Anas:
When Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) went out on a journey of three miles or three Farasikh, he (ﷺ) used to pray two Rak'at.
كان الرسول صلى الله عليه وسلم إذا خرج مسيرة ثلاثة أميال أو ثلاثة فراسخ صلى ركعتينThe Shaykh : Which hadith?
The questioner : The hadith of Anas was that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him)
The Shaykh : It is established, and if it is established, that is the case.
The questioner : It is established, but what I understood just now, and what is present in my mind now, is that in the end, you seemed to lean toward what the Shaykh al-Islam and Ibn al-Qayyim held, which is that it reverts to custom. So I do not know whether the apparent text of the hadith is to be taken regarding the rulings of the distance of travel?
The Shaykh : I have no doubt about the authenticity of the hadith, but everything I have spoken about is from the jurisprudential perspective, and it does not indicate that this distance is the distance for shortening the prayer, meaning that if one travels such a distance and then returns, this distance would be considered a distance for shortening. We say that the hadith does not indicate this, despite its authenticity. The reference for that, as you pointed out, is that I quoted from Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah and Ibn al-Qayyim al-Jawziyyah: the reference for determining the distance of travel is custom. So this hadith did not come out as a system or a rule, but rather this occurred from the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). There may be a long outing that is not travel, and there may be a short outing that is travel. So that reverts to custom, not to a distance that a person covers. The research on this is long, and it is sufficient for you to know the summary we arrived at, relying on the school of Ibn Taymiyyah and Ibn al-Qayyim al-Jawziyyah (may Allah have mercy on them).