Should it not be said that the people of Makkah, in the past, were considered travelers when they went to the sacred sites because they carried provisions to them?
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The questioner : ... meaning the people of Makkah ... meaning it is all hardship, meaning ... the hardship of travel.
The Shaykh : In the past, there is no doubt; in the past, there is no doubt that they were travelers. But the jurists, may Allah have mercy on them, and those who restrict travel by distance, say that the distance must not be less than eighty kilometers, and 'Arafah does not reach this limit.
The questioner : ... O Shaykh ... .
The Shaykh : You do not argue with me on a matter on which I agree with you.
The questioner : ... .
The Shaykh : I see that the people of Makkah, in the past and also in the present, with the exception of Mina, are travelers, and that travel has no limit. In the beginning, they used to carry provisions; the eighth day is called the Day of Tarwiyah because people quench their thirst on it and go out with them carrying water skins and the like. But the scholars who say that travel is that which reaches a certain distance.
The student: May Allah reward you with good.
The Shaykh : And from Makkah to 'Arafah, it does not reach the distance. For this reason, the madhhab of Malik, al-Shafi'i, and Imam Ahmad, in the well-known view among them, is that the people of Makkah must complete their prayers and it is not permissible for them to combine them. Abu Hanifah, may Allah have mercy on him, considers combining and shortening permissible, but he does not consider it so on account of travel; rather, he says that this is from the category of rites, that it is attached to the rites, so its shortening is for the sake of the rites and not because they are travelers. And the correct view is contrary to what he said, may Allah have mercy on him, because if it were a rite, it would follow from that that if the people of Makkah entered ihram on the morning of the Day of Tarwiyah and did not go out to Mina until after noon, it would be permissible for them according to this view.
The student: Shortening.
The Shaykh : Shortening the Zuhr prayer, and that is not the case, yes?
The questioner : Shaykh, may Allah bless you.
The Shaykh : In the past, there is no doubt; in the past, there is no doubt that they were travelers. But the jurists, may Allah have mercy on them, and those who restrict travel by distance, say that the distance must not be less than eighty kilometers, and 'Arafah does not reach this limit.
The questioner : ... O Shaykh ... .
The Shaykh : You do not argue with me on a matter on which I agree with you.
The questioner : ... .
The Shaykh : I see that the people of Makkah, in the past and also in the present, with the exception of Mina, are travelers, and that travel has no limit. In the beginning, they used to carry provisions; the eighth day is called the Day of Tarwiyah because people quench their thirst on it and go out with them carrying water skins and the like. But the scholars who say that travel is that which reaches a certain distance.
The student: May Allah reward you with good.
The Shaykh : And from Makkah to 'Arafah, it does not reach the distance. For this reason, the madhhab of Malik, al-Shafi'i, and Imam Ahmad, in the well-known view among them, is that the people of Makkah must complete their prayers and it is not permissible for them to combine them. Abu Hanifah, may Allah have mercy on him, considers combining and shortening permissible, but he does not consider it so on account of travel; rather, he says that this is from the category of rites, that it is attached to the rites, so its shortening is for the sake of the rites and not because they are travelers. And the correct view is contrary to what he said, may Allah have mercy on him, because if it were a rite, it would follow from that that if the people of Makkah entered ihram on the morning of the Day of Tarwiyah and did not go out to Mina until after noon, it would be permissible for them according to this view.
The student: Shortening.
The Shaykh : Shortening the Zuhr prayer, and that is not the case, yes?
The questioner : Shaykh, may Allah bless you.