A man travels daily a distance equivalent to seventy kilometers; does he shorten and combine the prayer?
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The questioner : O Shaykh, we are three people who travel seventy kilometers daily, and on exam days we return and the midday prayer catches us before we reach the town. Is it permissible for us to shorten the prayer or not?
The Shaykh : If you are travelers, meaning you stay in the place for a week and then return at the end of the week?
The questioner : We travel daily.
The Shaykh : Seventy kilometers daily. If you travel seventy kilometers daily, then you are not travelers, because a traveler is one who carries provisions and prepares for the journey, and such a short duration over a short distance does not reach the distance specified by most scholars. Therefore, you are not travelers, but you must complete the prayer and not combine it.
The Shaykh : If you are travelers, meaning you stay in the place for a week and then return at the end of the week?
The questioner : We travel daily.
The Shaykh : Seventy kilometers daily. If you travel seventy kilometers daily, then you are not travelers, because a traveler is one who carries provisions and prepares for the journey, and such a short duration over a short distance does not reach the distance specified by most scholars. Therefore, you are not travelers, but you must complete the prayer and not combine it.