What are the conditions for shortening the prayer? Is the distance specified? When is it valid for a traveler to shorten, and when is it not valid?
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The questioner : ... and peace be upon His servant and Messenger Muhammad.
With us is the honorable Shaykh Nasir al-Din al-Albani, and there are some questions from the brothers.
The first question: The questioner asks, saying: What are the conditions for shortening during travel? Is there a specified distance? When is it permissible for a Muslim to shorten, and when is it not permissible for him to shorten?
The Shaykh : The truth is that this issue is among the issues in which research has been extensive and opinions have multiplied. What a researcher observes in the statements of the Imams and their evidence is that he finds nothing closer to the truth than what some of the early scholars and many of the later scholars—such as Ibn Taymiyyah and Ibn al-Qayyim al-Jawziyyah—held, namely that travel is absolute and has no restrictions or limits regarding the shortness or length of the distance. They cite clear evidence from the Book and the Sunnah for this; these evidences are absolute, such as His saying—Blessed and Exalted is He—:[An-Nisa 4:101] "then there is no blame on you" [An-Nisa 4:101]. Is this the verse?
The questioner : There is a little in it.
The Shaykh : Correct, I say this because I am doubtful about it.
The questioner :[Al-Baqarah 2:282] .
The Shaykh : How?
The questioner:[Al-Baqarah 2:282] So there is no harm on you.
The Shaykh : Yes, it is "there is no blame."
[An-Nisa 4:101] .
The point in the verse is:[An-Nisa 4:101], and "traveling in the land" is an idiom for travel. So Allah—Mighty and Majestic—made "traveling in the land" absolute, which He linked to the permissibility of shortening. Although our Lord—Mighty and Majestic—stipulated a clear condition in the verse for the permissibility of this shortening in His saying: [An-Nisa 4:101], this condition is something Allah—Mighty and Majestic—bestowed upon the believers after it, so He lifted it as a favor and out of mercy for His servants.
This is also indicated by a hadith in Muslim’s "Sahih," where a man said to some of the Companions: "If I had met the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), I would have asked him." He said to him: "What would you ask him about?" He said: "I would ask him: Why do we shorten, while Allah—Mighty and Majestic—says:, and we are now safe and do not fear?!" He said: "I asked the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). I said to him: Why do we shorten when we are safe? Meaning: Allah says: [An-Nisa 4:101]; so this is a condition. He answered—peace and blessings be upon him—by saying: Sunan Abi Dawud 1199Sahih (Al-Albani).
It seems that the answer of the Messenger (peace be upon him) includes two things:
The first thing: He affirmed the questioner’s understanding, and that this condition from his Lord for the permissibility of shortening is valid. But he sees that the Muslims, as long as they are Companions and Successors, continue to shorten where there is no fear. So how does our Lord say:[An-Nisa 4:101]? The Companion asked this question, so the Messenger affirmed his understanding that this is a valid condition. But he answered with what he did not know, saying: "The matter is as you understood it, but Allah—Mighty and Majestic—added a favor to His servants after that, so He lifted this condition and gave it to you as a charity. So there is no condition after that; accept the charity of Allah—Mighty and Majestic—, Sunan Abi Dawud 1199Sahih (Al-Albani).
So the verse made the permissibility of shortening in travel absolute and did not restrict it by distance. This is an absolute text in the Qur'an that is not permissible to restrict except by a text, either from the Book of Allah or from a hadith of the Messenger of Allah. And neither of these exists. Likewise, when our Lord—Mighty and Majestic—mentioned some of the reasons for which a person is granted a dispensation to not fast the month of Ramadan, travel was among those reasons. He said—Mighty and Majestic—:[Al-Baqarah 2:184]. Likewise, here, as you see, He said: "on a journey." This is in the form of what? Indefiniteness; meaning: whatever journey it is, long or short. So whoever travels this journey, it is permissible for him to break the fast in Ramadan, with the condition, of course, that he makes up the days later.
And so we find that there is nothing in the Book of Allah—Mighty and Majestic—nor in the hadiths of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) that restricts these two Qur'anic texts. We should leave the absolute text as it is, and it is not permissible to restrict it with our own independent legal reasoning. One of the principles of the principles of jurisprudence is that it is not permissible to restrict what is absolute, just as it is not permissible to make absolute what is restricted. Likewise, it is not permissible to specify the general, and likewise the opposite: it is not permissible to generalize the specific. So the text is stopped at, and nothing is added to it except by a text of the same kind to which submission is obligatory. And as you know, there is nothing to which submission is obligatory except the Qur'an and the Sunnah of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him).
With us is the honorable Shaykh Nasir al-Din al-Albani, and there are some questions from the brothers.
The first question: The questioner asks, saying: What are the conditions for shortening during travel? Is there a specified distance? When is it permissible for a Muslim to shorten, and when is it not permissible for him to shorten?
The Shaykh : The truth is that this issue is among the issues in which research has been extensive and opinions have multiplied. What a researcher observes in the statements of the Imams and their evidence is that he finds nothing closer to the truth than what some of the early scholars and many of the later scholars—such as Ibn Taymiyyah and Ibn al-Qayyim al-Jawziyyah—held, namely that travel is absolute and has no restrictions or limits regarding the shortness or length of the distance. They cite clear evidence from the Book and the Sunnah for this; these evidences are absolute, such as His saying—Blessed and Exalted is He—:
And when you travel throughout the land
وَإِذَا ضَرَبْتُمْ فِي الْأَرْضِfor shortening the prayer, [especially] if you fear that those who disbelieve may disrupt [or attack] you
أَنْ تَقْصُرُوا مِنَ الصَّلَاةِ إِنْ خِفْتُمْ أَنْ يَفْتِنَكُمُ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُواThe questioner : There is a little in it.
The Shaykh : Correct, I say this because I am doubtful about it.
The questioner :
For [then] there is no blame upon you
فَلَيْسَ عَلَيْكُمْ جُنَاحٌThe Shaykh : How?
The questioner:
For [then] there is no blame upon you
فَلَيْسَ عَلَيْكُمْ جُنَاحٌThe Shaykh : Yes, it is "there is no blame."
And when you travel throughout the land, there is no blame upon you for shortening the prayer, [especially] if you fear that those who disbelieve may disrupt
وَإِذَا ضَرَبْتُمْ فِي الْأَرْضِ فَلَيْسَ عَلَيْكُمْ جُنَاحٌ أَنْ تَقْصُرُوا مِنَ الصَّلَاةِ إِنْ خِفْتُمْ أَنْ يَفْتِنَكُمُ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُواThe point in the verse is:
And when you travel throughout the land
وَإِذَا ضَرَبْتُمْ فِي الْأَرْضِ[especially] if you fear that those who disbelieve may disrupt [or attack] you
إِنْ خِفْتُمْ أَنْ يَفْتِنَكُمُ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُواThis is also indicated by a hadith in Muslim’s "Sahih," where a man said to some of the Companions: "If I had met the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), I would have asked him." He said to him: "What would you ask him about?" He said: "I would ask him: Why do we shorten, while Allah—Mighty and Majestic—says:
if you fear
إِنْ خِفْتُمْ[especially] if you fear that those who disbelieve may disrupt [or attack] you
إِنْ خِفْتُمْ أَنْ يَفْتِنَكُمُ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُواIt is an act of charity which Allah has done to you, so accept his charity.
صدقةٌ تصدَّق الله بها عليكم ؛ فاقبلوا صدقتهIt seems that the answer of the Messenger (peace be upon him) includes two things:
The first thing: He affirmed the questioner’s understanding, and that this condition from his Lord for the permissibility of shortening is valid. But he sees that the Muslims, as long as they are Companions and Successors, continue to shorten where there is no fear. So how does our Lord say:
[especially] if you fear that those who disbelieve may disrupt [or attack] you
إِنْ خِفْتُمْ أَنْ يَفْتِنَكُمُ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُواIt is an act of charity which Allah has done to you, so accept his charity.
صدقةٌ تصدَّق الله بها عليكم فاقبلوا صدقتهSo the verse made the permissibility of shortening in travel absolute and did not restrict it by distance. This is an absolute text in the Qur'an that is not permissible to restrict except by a text, either from the Book of Allah or from a hadith of the Messenger of Allah. And neither of these exists. Likewise, when our Lord—Mighty and Majestic—mentioned some of the reasons for which a person is granted a dispensation to not fast the month of Ramadan, travel was among those reasons. He said—Mighty and Majestic—:
So whoever among you is ill or on a journey [during them] - then an equal number of days [are to be made up]
فَمَنْ كَانَ مِنْكُمْ مَرِيضًا أَوْ عَلَى سَفَرٍ فَعِدَّةٌ مِنْ أَيَّامٍ أُخَرَAnd so we find that there is nothing in the Book of Allah—Mighty and Majestic—nor in the hadiths of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) that restricts these two Qur'anic texts. We should leave the absolute text as it is, and it is not permissible to restrict it with our own independent legal reasoning. One of the principles of the principles of jurisprudence is that it is not permissible to restrict what is absolute, just as it is not permissible to make absolute what is restricted. Likewise, it is not permissible to specify the general, and likewise the opposite: it is not permissible to generalize the specific. So the text is stopped at, and nothing is added to it except by a text of the same kind to which submission is obligatory. And as you know, there is nothing to which submission is obligatory except the Qur'an and the Sunnah of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him).
Source
www.al-albany.com
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.