The Ruling on Shortening Prayer While Traveling
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We have heard from your eminence a fatwa that has circulated among students of knowledge, which is the issue of shortening prayer while traveling.And many students of knowledge say: The Shaykh says: If students of knowledge arrive from countries outside the Kingdom, and they pray individually, they shorten the prayer based on the fact that they are traveling. We want the evidence for this in detail?
This issue, may Allah bless you, is regarding a traveler staying in a country: does this stay terminate the ruling of travel, or does it not? The scholars differ on this issue with more than twenty opinions, as al-Nawawi mentioned in al-Majmu' Sharh al-Muhadhab. This is because there is no definitive text in the issue that settles the matter between the disputants. Therefore, Shaykh al-Islam (may Allah have mercy on him) and a group of scholars held that the issue reduces to settling or traveling, and that a person's state is limited to either settling or traveling. Permanent residence that is not defined by a specific job or time period is included in settling. This is the opinion that the soul finds peace with, and it is what the apparent indications of the Shari'ah evidence point to; because there is not a single letter in the Qur'an or the Sunnah that indicates a specific duration that terminates the ruling of travel if a person intends it. If anyone has evidence for that, let them provide it to us. The greatest evidence for those who set a limit is that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) stayed for different durations: some took the minimum, and some took the maximum,For example, Ibn Abbas said: (If the traveler intends to stay for nineteen days or more, he completes the prayer; because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) stayed in Makkah for nineteen days shortening the prayer. So if we stay these nineteen days, we shorten, and if we exceed them, we complete).
Imam Ahmad and al-Shafi'i, and I think Imam Malik also, say: (If he intends to stay for more than four days, he completes, and if he intends four days or less, he shortens) But al-Shafi'i says: (The day of arrival and the day of departure are not counted, so the days are four clear days) Based on this school of thought, the days would be six: the day of arrival, the day of departure, and four clear days in between. Imam Ahmad counts the day of arrival and the day of departure, so what is the evidence for this?The evidence: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), in the Farewell Pilgrimage, which was the last journey he made, arrived in Mecca on Sunday, the fourth of Dhul-Hijjah, and stayed there on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. On Thursday morning, he went out to Mina. It is authentically reported from him (peace and blessings be upon him) that he was shortening the prayer during this period.Anas (may Allah be pleased with him) said: (The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) went outMeaning: to Mecca in the Farewell Pilgrimage, and he did not stop praying two rak'ahs until he returned to Madinah.So he was asked: How long did they stay in Mecca?He said: We stayed there for ten days); because he arrived on Sunday, the fourth of Dhul-Hijjah, and left on the morning of the fourteenth of Dhul-Hijjah, so the days are ten: four before going to the stations, and the rest at the stations,But I say: Is this evidence for setting a limit, or for not setting a limit? In reality, it is evidence for not setting a limit, not for setting a limit.Because the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) did not say: Whoever sits for more than four days should complete the prayer. The four days were merely coincidental. He (peace and blessings be upon him) knew that people arrive in Mecca for Hajj before the fourth day.Meaning: Not all pilgrims arrive only on the fourth day or after; absolutely not. Pilgrims arrive on the fourth, the third, the second, the first, and at the end of Dhul-Qa'dah.But it is possible from Shawwal: [al-Baqarah:197] the beginning of Shawwal, so if the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), knowing that people would arrive before the fourth day, did not tell the people: "Whoever arrives before the fourth day, let him complete," it is known that completing is not obligatory. And for this reason, when he prayed in Makkah in the Year of the Conquest, he said to its people: (O people of Makkah! Complete the prayer, for we are a traveling people) And he would pray two rak'ahs and give the salam, then the people of Makkah would stand and complete.
The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) conveys the clear message. If we know that he stayed in Mecca for four days before going out to Mina, and six days after that, and stayed in Tabuk for twenty days shortening the prayer, and stayed in Mecca in the Year of the Conquest for nineteen days shortening the prayer, these are different durations and the ruling did not change in them.So at that time we say: The criterion for breaking the state of travel is that a person intends to break the travel and settle permanently in this country, so he becomes one of its people and is bound by what is binding on a resident.And if he says: I am not from the people of the town, but I stayed for work.So we say: So, you are a traveler. But even so, we do not exempt this man who stayed in the town from congregational prayer; rather, we oblige him to pray in congregation and on Friday, unless he misses it, in which case he prays two rak'ahs. Similarly, we do not think he should break the fast in Ramadan and make it up later, because he is not a traveler. But because if he leaves fasting Ramadan in this year, then in the next year, then in the third year, the days will accumulate on him, and he may become unable or lazy. Also, the emphasis on breaking the fast while traveling is not like the emphasis on shortening. Shortening is obligatory for some scholars while traveling, and it is not recorded that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) completed the prayer for a single day while he was a traveler.
As for breaking the fast, the Companions with the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) used to fast and break the fast, and the one who fasts does not criticize the one who breaks the fast, nor does the one who breaks the fast criticize the one who fasts. And the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) fasted.And when it was said to him: The people found it difficult, so he broke the fast.Therefore we say: The fast for this traveler who stayed for a long period is not postponed to the second Ramadan, but he fasts it so that the months do not accumulate on him and he becomes weak or negligent.
This issue, may Allah bless you, is regarding a traveler staying in a country: does this stay terminate the ruling of travel, or does it not? The scholars differ on this issue with more than twenty opinions, as al-Nawawi mentioned in al-Majmu' Sharh al-Muhadhab. This is because there is no definitive text in the issue that settles the matter between the disputants. Therefore, Shaykh al-Islam (may Allah have mercy on him) and a group of scholars held that the issue reduces to settling or traveling, and that a person's state is limited to either settling or traveling. Permanent residence that is not defined by a specific job or time period is included in settling. This is the opinion that the soul finds peace with, and it is what the apparent indications of the Shari'ah evidence point to; because there is not a single letter in the Qur'an or the Sunnah that indicates a specific duration that terminates the ruling of travel if a person intends it. If anyone has evidence for that, let them provide it to us. The greatest evidence for those who set a limit is that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) stayed for different durations: some took the minimum, and some took the maximum,For example, Ibn Abbas said: (If the traveler intends to stay for nineteen days or more, he completes the prayer; because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) stayed in Makkah for nineteen days shortening the prayer. So if we stay these nineteen days, we shorten, and if we exceed them, we complete).
Imam Ahmad and al-Shafi'i, and I think Imam Malik also, say: (If he intends to stay for more than four days, he completes, and if he intends four days or less, he shortens) But al-Shafi'i says: (The day of arrival and the day of departure are not counted, so the days are four clear days) Based on this school of thought, the days would be six: the day of arrival, the day of departure, and four clear days in between. Imam Ahmad counts the day of arrival and the day of departure, so what is the evidence for this?The evidence: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), in the Farewell Pilgrimage, which was the last journey he made, arrived in Mecca on Sunday, the fourth of Dhul-Hijjah, and stayed there on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. On Thursday morning, he went out to Mina. It is authentically reported from him (peace and blessings be upon him) that he was shortening the prayer during this period.Anas (may Allah be pleased with him) said: (The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) went outMeaning: to Mecca in the Farewell Pilgrimage, and he did not stop praying two rak'ahs until he returned to Madinah.So he was asked: How long did they stay in Mecca?He said: We stayed there for ten days); because he arrived on Sunday, the fourth of Dhul-Hijjah, and left on the morning of the fourteenth of Dhul-Hijjah, so the days are ten: four before going to the stations, and the rest at the stations,But I say: Is this evidence for setting a limit, or for not setting a limit? In reality, it is evidence for not setting a limit, not for setting a limit.Because the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) did not say: Whoever sits for more than four days should complete the prayer. The four days were merely coincidental. He (peace and blessings be upon him) knew that people arrive in Mecca for Hajj before the fourth day.Meaning: Not all pilgrims arrive only on the fourth day or after; absolutely not. Pilgrims arrive on the fourth, the third, the second, the first, and at the end of Dhul-Qa'dah.But it is possible from Shawwal:
Hajj is [during] well-known months
الْحَجُّ أَشْهُرٌ مَعْلُومَاتٌThe Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) conveys the clear message. If we know that he stayed in Mecca for four days before going out to Mina, and six days after that, and stayed in Tabuk for twenty days shortening the prayer, and stayed in Mecca in the Year of the Conquest for nineteen days shortening the prayer, these are different durations and the ruling did not change in them.So at that time we say: The criterion for breaking the state of travel is that a person intends to break the travel and settle permanently in this country, so he becomes one of its people and is bound by what is binding on a resident.And if he says: I am not from the people of the town, but I stayed for work.So we say: So, you are a traveler. But even so, we do not exempt this man who stayed in the town from congregational prayer; rather, we oblige him to pray in congregation and on Friday, unless he misses it, in which case he prays two rak'ahs. Similarly, we do not think he should break the fast in Ramadan and make it up later, because he is not a traveler. But because if he leaves fasting Ramadan in this year, then in the next year, then in the third year, the days will accumulate on him, and he may become unable or lazy. Also, the emphasis on breaking the fast while traveling is not like the emphasis on shortening. Shortening is obligatory for some scholars while traveling, and it is not recorded that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) completed the prayer for a single day while he was a traveler.
As for breaking the fast, the Companions with the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) used to fast and break the fast, and the one who fasts does not criticize the one who breaks the fast, nor does the one who breaks the fast criticize the one who fasts. And the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) fasted.And when it was said to him: The people found it difficult, so he broke the fast.Therefore we say: The fast for this traveler who stayed for a long period is not postponed to the second Ramadan, but he fasts it so that the months do not accumulate on him and he becomes weak or negligent.