Did the Shari'ah set a specific duration for shortening the prayer for the traveler?
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The questioner : Pardon me, O our Shaykh, did the Shari'ah set a specific date for the traveler regarding fasting and shortening the prayer?
The Shaykh : A date.
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh : What do you mean?
The questioner : A duration, I mean.
The Shaykh : A duration.
The questioner : A duration.
The Shaykh : No, no, the matter returns to custom. As for specifying it by stages, formerly by stages and nowadays by kilometers, this has no basis in the Shari'ah whatsoever. Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah has a good treatise on this topic in *Majmu'at al-Rasail wa al-Masail* (Collection of Treatises and Issues), a specific treatise on the rulings of travel, in which he concludes by saying that any departure from one town to another, where this person who departs or leaves prepares for such an exit and it is known by the custom of the town that this is travel, then it is travel, whether the distance is long or short. And this, in reality, is supported by the like of the saying of Allah the Exalted: So he used the term "travel" here without specifying it, and the Sunnah also did not specify it, as is its custom with many absolute texts in the Book, where it restricts them. He said: [Al-Baqarah 2:184] And it is not permissible to restrict what the Lawgiver has made absolute, whether in the Qur'an or in the Sunnah, nor is it permissible to specify what Allah the Mighty and Majestic has generalized in a text from the Book and the Sunnah merely by opinion and independent legal reasoning. So the general remains general until it is specified by a text from the Wise Lawgiver, and the absolute remains absolute until it is restricted. And this verse [Al-Baqarah 2:184] So travel is absolute, just like illness. Therefore, everyone who is ill is permitted to break his fast in Ramadan, and everyone who is a traveler is subject to the rulings of the traveler, whether from the default ruling like shortening, or from a dispensation like combining.
The Shaykh : And I am pleased, on this occasion, with what Imam al-Qurtubi mentioned in his exegesis, *al-Jami' li Ahkam al-Qur'an*. He mentioned from Muhammad ibn Sirin, the great Tabi'i, that he was seen one day in Ramadan while breaking his fast, and he was breaking his fast, and no signs of illness appeared on him, so he pointed with his finger, in pain in his finger.
Another questioner: Allahu Akbar.
The Shaykh : ... So he was ill in his finger.
onAl-Halabi : Shaykh, to complete the discussion of this issue, if you have finished
The Shaykh : Yes, I have finished.
onAl-Halabi : This statement you graciously gave, my professor, regarding the issue of distance, the duration the traveler covers, and its specification by residence or not
The Shaykh: Yes.
onAl-Halabi : Here is a problem, meaning it confused some of the brothers, from the actions of some of our brothers who migrated, their new migration, from Kuwait after the events ... that passed through the Muslim community.
The Shaykh : Yes, exactly.
onAl-Halabi : So they came here, and rented a house and furniture and everything, but they were expecting to return at any moment to Kuwait, to a few days ago, when some of their brothers from Kuwait contacted them and said, "Now it is almost impossible for you to return." So they were shortening the prayer throughout this period of a year and a half, and now they said, "We are now at ease and have become, by ruling, residents, because there is no possibility of returning."
The Shaykh : I see that this is the correct view.
onAl-Halabi: Oh, wonderful.
The Shaykh : Yes, I see that this is the correct view.
Ali : Of course, the correct view, Shaykh, is according to his intention.
The Shaykh : According to the detail you mentioned.
Ali : Yes, according to the detail.
The Shaykh : That is it.
Ali : Yes, may Allah bless you.
The Shaykh : Yes, because as long as he did not intend to reside, even if the duration is long, he is a traveler.
Another questioner : Shaykh, does renting the house and buying the furniture and such enter into the matter?
The Shaykh: How.
Another questioner : Buying it, meaning for the...
The Shaykh : No, without this talk, without...
The questioner : According to what you wrote for us when you were visiting us from Syria to Jordan and you stayed at your son-in-law's house, you were completing the prayer and you said, "I am at ease and sitting with you," even though you were sitting for a week, ten days, does this mean something different?
The Shaykh : Different, of course.
The questioner : No.
The Shaykh : I intended to reside and I am at ease and everything, I am not intending to travel and hesitating, today I am a traveler, tomorrow I am a traveler, and so on. So the issue here is the hesitation of the resident that he will travel today, tomorrow, the day after, and so on, as happened to some of the Companions, among them Abdullah ibn Umar, when they went out on an expedition to the land of ... Afghanistan now, meaning there is Khurasan, they stayed for six months and they were shortening the prayer, because snow had fallen and blocked their way of return, so they said, "Today and tomorrow the snow will melt and the rains will come," and so on, so they stayed shortening the prayer for six months. This is a sound narration. In another narration, it is two years, but its chain is weak.
onAl-Halabi : This leads us to ask about the issue of traveling students
The Shaykh : Did these people intend to reside?
onAl-Halabi : They intended to reside, I thinkThe Shaykh : Ibn Uthaymeen issues a ruling for them ...
The Shaykh : Yes, exactly.
Ali : That they are travelers even if they stay for four years.
The Shaykh : Yes, exactly.
Ali : They get their doctorate in ten years, they remain.
The Shaykh : Yes, glory be to Allah, yes.
The Shaykh : A date.
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh : What do you mean?
The questioner : A duration, I mean.
The Shaykh : A duration.
The questioner : A duration.
The Shaykh : No, no, the matter returns to custom. As for specifying it by stages, formerly by stages and nowadays by kilometers, this has no basis in the Shari'ah whatsoever. Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah has a good treatise on this topic in *Majmu'at al-Rasail wa al-Masail* (Collection of Treatises and Issues), a specific treatise on the rulings of travel, in which he concludes by saying that any departure from one town to another, where this person who departs or leaves prepares for such an exit and it is known by the custom of the town that this is travel, then it is travel, whether the distance is long or short. And this, in reality, is supported by the like of the saying of Allah the Exalted:
If you are ill or on a journey, then a number of other days
فإن كنتم مرضى أو على سفر فعدة من أيام أخَرSo whoever among you is ill or on a journey [during them] - then an equal number of days [are to be made up]
فمن كان منكم مريضا أو على سفر فعدة من أيام أخرSo whoever among you is ill or on a journey
فمن كان منكم مريضا أو على سفرThe Shaykh : And I am pleased, on this occasion, with what Imam al-Qurtubi mentioned in his exegesis, *al-Jami' li Ahkam al-Qur'an*. He mentioned from Muhammad ibn Sirin, the great Tabi'i, that he was seen one day in Ramadan while breaking his fast, and he was breaking his fast, and no signs of illness appeared on him, so he pointed with his finger, in pain in his finger.
Another questioner: Allahu Akbar.
The Shaykh : ... So he was ill in his finger.
onAl-Halabi : Shaykh, to complete the discussion of this issue, if you have finished
The Shaykh : Yes, I have finished.
onAl-Halabi : This statement you graciously gave, my professor, regarding the issue of distance, the duration the traveler covers, and its specification by residence or not
The Shaykh: Yes.
onAl-Halabi : Here is a problem, meaning it confused some of the brothers, from the actions of some of our brothers who migrated, their new migration, from Kuwait after the events ... that passed through the Muslim community.
The Shaykh : Yes, exactly.
onAl-Halabi : So they came here, and rented a house and furniture and everything, but they were expecting to return at any moment to Kuwait, to a few days ago, when some of their brothers from Kuwait contacted them and said, "Now it is almost impossible for you to return." So they were shortening the prayer throughout this period of a year and a half, and now they said, "We are now at ease and have become, by ruling, residents, because there is no possibility of returning."
The Shaykh : I see that this is the correct view.
onAl-Halabi: Oh, wonderful.
The Shaykh : Yes, I see that this is the correct view.
Ali : Of course, the correct view, Shaykh, is according to his intention.
The Shaykh : According to the detail you mentioned.
Ali : Yes, according to the detail.
The Shaykh : That is it.
Ali : Yes, may Allah bless you.
The Shaykh : Yes, because as long as he did not intend to reside, even if the duration is long, he is a traveler.
Another questioner : Shaykh, does renting the house and buying the furniture and such enter into the matter?
The Shaykh: How.
Another questioner : Buying it, meaning for the...
The Shaykh : No, without this talk, without...
The questioner : According to what you wrote for us when you were visiting us from Syria to Jordan and you stayed at your son-in-law's house, you were completing the prayer and you said, "I am at ease and sitting with you," even though you were sitting for a week, ten days, does this mean something different?
The Shaykh : Different, of course.
The questioner : No.
The Shaykh : I intended to reside and I am at ease and everything, I am not intending to travel and hesitating, today I am a traveler, tomorrow I am a traveler, and so on. So the issue here is the hesitation of the resident that he will travel today, tomorrow, the day after, and so on, as happened to some of the Companions, among them Abdullah ibn Umar, when they went out on an expedition to the land of ... Afghanistan now, meaning there is Khurasan, they stayed for six months and they were shortening the prayer, because snow had fallen and blocked their way of return, so they said, "Today and tomorrow the snow will melt and the rains will come," and so on, so they stayed shortening the prayer for six months. This is a sound narration. In another narration, it is two years, but its chain is weak.
onAl-Halabi : This leads us to ask about the issue of traveling students
The Shaykh : Did these people intend to reside?
onAl-Halabi : They intended to reside, I thinkThe Shaykh : Ibn Uthaymeen issues a ruling for them ...
The Shaykh : Yes, exactly.
Ali : That they are travelers even if they stay for four years.
The Shaykh : Yes, exactly.
Ali : They get their doctorate in ten years, they remain.
The Shaykh : Yes, glory be to Allah, yes.
Source
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The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.