Is it better for the traveler to pray in the open or in the roadside mosques?
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The questioner : What is better when I am traveling: should I pray in the roadside mosques or in the open?
The Shaykh : If you are traveling, pray wherever the time for prayer catches you. If the time enters and you are far from the station that has a mosque, and you have water, then purify yourself and pray. This is the best, based on the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family):Sahih al-Bukhari 438.
However, if you are close, the place where prayer is performed is better than other places where it is not performed. This is because the jurists (may Allah have mercy on them) said: "The old mosque is more preferable for prayer than the new mosque", and they attributed this to the precedence of prayer in it.
Furthermore, when you arrive at the station and pray in the mosque, you may find a congregation, and the larger the congregation, the better. Also, when you pray in the mosques at the stations, you are more certain of facing the qiblah. The one who prays in the open, if he does not have a qiblah device, may miss it. So there are these three benefits:
That it is older in worship, that it is closer to a larger congregation, and that it is closer to hitting the qiblah. May Allah make it easy.
The Shaykh : If you are traveling, pray wherever the time for prayer catches you. If the time enters and you are far from the station that has a mosque, and you have water, then purify yourself and pray. This is the best, based on the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family):
Therefore my followers can pray wherever the time of a prayer is due.
أيّما رجل من أمّتي أدركته الصلاة فليصلّHowever, if you are close, the place where prayer is performed is better than other places where it is not performed. This is because the jurists (may Allah have mercy on them) said: "The old mosque is more preferable for prayer than the new mosque", and they attributed this to the precedence of prayer in it.
Furthermore, when you arrive at the station and pray in the mosque, you may find a congregation, and the larger the congregation, the better. Also, when you pray in the mosques at the stations, you are more certain of facing the qiblah. The one who prays in the open, if he does not have a qiblah device, may miss it. So there are these three benefits:
That it is older in worship, that it is closer to a larger congregation, and that it is closer to hitting the qiblah. May Allah make it easy.