Does one who travels ninety kilometers for a leisure trip count as a traveler?
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The questioner : Your Eminence, if some of the brothers, for example, go out for recreation and a walk and cover a distance of more than ninety kilometers, do they shorten the prayer, even though they did not intend to travel?
The Shaykh : I ask you, is this person a traveler?
The questioner : He is not a traveler.
The Shaykh : Fine.
The questioner : But some of the brothers found this issue confusing.
The Shaykh : No, it is not confusing. We see that the one who returns on the same day is not a traveler, even if he covers ninety kilometers, because he does not bid farewell when leaving and is not welcomed when returning, so he is not a traveler.
The questioner : Let us establish the criterion here, O Shaykh.
The Shaykh : The criterion is what the Shaykh al-Islam saw, which is what I told you: what people do not consider travel is not travel, and what they do consider travel is travel. As for the one who limits it by distance, which is eighty-three kilometers, he says: whoever exceeds 83, even if he returns within the hour, is a traveler. But the soul is not at peace with this, and the original ruling is the obligation to complete the prayer. If the original ruling is the obligation to complete the prayer, then it is not permissible to deviate from it to shortening except for something that puts the soul at ease, because the obligation to complete it is a certain matter, and the fact that it is shortened at this distance is a matter of doubt. What is the wisdom? I ask you, would you leave the certainty and go to the doubtful?
The questioner : The certainty.
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner : The certainty.
The Shaykh : Then, praise be to Allah, since we are in doubt about this, and it is a point of disagreement among the scholars, and the Qur'an and the Sunnah did not limit it to a distance, we say: this is not considered travel by people, and the original ruling is the obligation to complete the prayer, so let him complete it. Yes, as for the one after him, yes.
The Shaykh : I ask you, is this person a traveler?
The questioner : He is not a traveler.
The Shaykh : Fine.
The questioner : But some of the brothers found this issue confusing.
The Shaykh : No, it is not confusing. We see that the one who returns on the same day is not a traveler, even if he covers ninety kilometers, because he does not bid farewell when leaving and is not welcomed when returning, so he is not a traveler.
The questioner : Let us establish the criterion here, O Shaykh.
The Shaykh : The criterion is what the Shaykh al-Islam saw, which is what I told you: what people do not consider travel is not travel, and what they do consider travel is travel. As for the one who limits it by distance, which is eighty-three kilometers, he says: whoever exceeds 83, even if he returns within the hour, is a traveler. But the soul is not at peace with this, and the original ruling is the obligation to complete the prayer. If the original ruling is the obligation to complete the prayer, then it is not permissible to deviate from it to shortening except for something that puts the soul at ease, because the obligation to complete it is a certain matter, and the fact that it is shortened at this distance is a matter of doubt. What is the wisdom? I ask you, would you leave the certainty and go to the doubtful?
The questioner : The certainty.
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner : The certainty.
The Shaykh : Then, praise be to Allah, since we are in doubt about this, and it is a point of disagreement among the scholars, and the Qur'an and the Sunnah did not limit it to a distance, we say: this is not considered travel by people, and the original ruling is the obligation to complete the prayer, so let him complete it. Yes, as for the one after him, yes.