In the UAE, we go on trips that include entertainment and educational lessons, covering a distance of sixty kilometers. Do we have the right to shorten the prayer?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : May Allah reward you with good. In the UAE, we have young men among the brothers who, if Allah wills, go on trips like the one we just went on a little while ago. They stay overnight for one, two, or three days. There are educational lessons and teaching the manner of the Prophet’s (peace and blessings be upon him) prayer, and all of it is, praise be to Allah, good. But the distance is about this distance, or more than the distance to Madinah. Some of them shorten the prayer, while others are hesitant about shortening the prayer, but they do not combine them.
The Shaykh : What is the distance?
The questioner : I mean, more than sixty.
The Shaykh : More than sixty.
The questioner : Or thirty or sixty.
The Shaykh : Okay, the important thing is: did you intend to travel or not?
The questioner : Each of them, I mean, took their luggage with them, meaning they are going on a trip.
The Shaykh : In any case, if you intended to travel, then as long as you intended to travel and you stopped at a place where you did not intend to reside, you are travelers, because the issue of...
The questioner : ...is in the desert.
The Shaykh : In the desert or in buildings, it is not important. The important thing, first, is: when you left, did you intend to travel or not?
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh : If you intended to travel, then you are travelers until you arrive at the destination you intended. If you arrive there and intend to reside, you are no longer under the ruling of a traveler.
The questioner : We go on these trips and intend to reside for two or three days. So it varies; sometimes, before this trip, some of us shorten the prayer, and we are hesitant, meaning we do not know whether we should shorten it or not.
The Shaykh : I have no answer other than this: whoever intends to travel and then does not intend to reside is a traveler. But if he did not intend to travel from his city in the first place, and he went out for recreation and relaxation, he is a resident. Or if he went out as a traveler and then stopped in a place and intended to reside, he is a resident. Otherwise, he is a traveler.
The questioner: May Allah reward you with good, Shaykh.
The Shaykh : And beware of that.
The questioner: Peace be upon you.
The Shaykh: And upon you peace.
The Shaykh : What is the distance?
The questioner : I mean, more than sixty.
The Shaykh : More than sixty.
The questioner : Or thirty or sixty.
The Shaykh : Okay, the important thing is: did you intend to travel or not?
The questioner : Each of them, I mean, took their luggage with them, meaning they are going on a trip.
The Shaykh : In any case, if you intended to travel, then as long as you intended to travel and you stopped at a place where you did not intend to reside, you are travelers, because the issue of...
The questioner : ...is in the desert.
The Shaykh : In the desert or in buildings, it is not important. The important thing, first, is: when you left, did you intend to travel or not?
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh : If you intended to travel, then you are travelers until you arrive at the destination you intended. If you arrive there and intend to reside, you are no longer under the ruling of a traveler.
The questioner : We go on these trips and intend to reside for two or three days. So it varies; sometimes, before this trip, some of us shorten the prayer, and we are hesitant, meaning we do not know whether we should shorten it or not.
The Shaykh : I have no answer other than this: whoever intends to travel and then does not intend to reside is a traveler. But if he did not intend to travel from his city in the first place, and he went out for recreation and relaxation, he is a resident. Or if he went out as a traveler and then stopped in a place and intended to reside, he is a resident. Otherwise, he is a traveler.
The questioner: May Allah reward you with good, Shaykh.
The Shaykh : And beware of that.
The questioner: Peace be upon you.
The Shaykh: And upon you peace.
Source
www.al-albany.com
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.