What is the distance at which a traveler must shorten and combine the prayer, and is it permissible to combine without shortening?

The questioner : What is the distance at which a traveler must shorten and combine the prayer? And is it permissible to combine without shortening?

The Shaykh : The distance at which the prayer is shortened was defined by some scholars as approximately eighty-three kilometers, and by others as what has become customary, meaning that if people say it is travel, it is travel, even if it does not reach eighty kilometers, and if people say it is not travel, it is not travel, even if it reaches one hundred kilometers. This latter view is the choice of Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him), because Allah the Exalted did not specify a certain distance for the permissibility of shortening, and the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did not specify a certain distance either. Rather, Anas ibn Malik (may Allah be pleased with him) said: meaning shortening the prayer. The statement of Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah is closer to the truth, but it is sometimes not regulated. If it is not regulated, or if custom differs regarding it, there is no blame on a person for adopting the view of specifying a distance, because some of the imams and scholars of independent legal reasoning held this view, so there is nothing wrong with that for him, if Allah wills. However, as long as the matter is regulated, returning to custom is the correct approach. As for whether combining is permissible when the condition for shortening is absent, we say that combining is not linked to shortening; combining is linked to need. So whenever a person needs to combine, whether he is resident or traveling, let him combine. This is why people combine when there is rain that makes it difficult for them to attend the mosques, and people combine when there is severe cold wind in the winter days that makes it difficult for them to go out to the mosques, and a person combines if he fears the loss of his wealth or harm to it, or something similar. A person combines if he is sick. In Sahih Muslim, Abdullah ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) said: meaning that he did not want to burden his community with hardship in leaving off the combining. This is the criterion: whenever a person experiences hardship in leaving off the combining, it is permissible for him to combine, and if he does not have hardship, he does not combine. However, travel is a place where hardship in leaving off the combining is likely to occur. Accordingly, it is permissible for the traveler to combine, whether he is actively traveling or residing. However, if he is actively traveling, combining is better, and if he is residing, leaving off the combining is better. An exception to this is when a person is residing in a town where the congregation is held, in which case it is obligatory for him to attend the congregation, and at that time he does not combine and does not shorten. But if he misses the congregation, he shortens without combining, and if he needs to combine, he combines and shortens in the parts of the prayer he did not perform behind the imam.

The questioner : May Allah reward you with good.