The Duration of Shortening Prayer While Traveling
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Q: From Abdul Aziz ibn Abdullah ibn Baz to the honorable brother A. F. F. (may Allah guide him).
Peace be upon you, and Allah’s mercy and blessings, and after that:
I refer to your letter dated 10/11/1410 AH, which stated: I would like to present to your eminence a matter in which I had sought your ruling a long time ago, namely combining and shortening prayers while traveling, no matter how long the duration. Since opinions have multiplied on this topic, I hope your eminence will clarify two things for me:
First: When traveling outside the Kingdom, is it permissible for me to shorten and combine prayers no matter how long the duration, as it sometimes exceeds two months? I note that I am unable to pray in Western-style clothing and am forced to return to my residence to pray, and combining and shortening is more relieving. What is the ruling: is it permissible for me to combine and shorten, or not?
Second: I travel frequently to Jeddah and have a residence there, but my place of residence is in Riyadh, and I stay there for a period that sometimes exceeds a month. Is it permissible for me to combine and shorten, or not?
A: I inform you that the travel in which a traveler is granted the dispensations of travel is what is considered travel by custom, and its approximate measure is a distance of eighty kilometers. So, whoever travels to cover this distance or more may avail himself of the dispensations of travel: wiping over the leather socks for three days and their nights, shortening the four-rak'ah prayer to two rak'ahs, combining Dhuhr and Asr in the time of one of them, and likewise Maghrib and Isha, and breaking the fast in Ramadan.
If the traveler arrives at the town he intended to visit and intends to reside there for more than four days, he does not avail himself of the dispensations of travel. If he intends to reside for four days or less, he avails himself of the dispensations of travel.
The traveler who arrives at a town to attend to a need, but does not know when his need will be fulfilled and has not specified a definite period of residence exceeding four days, avails himself of the dispensations of travel, even if his residence exceeds four days.
Wearing Western-style clothing is not an excuse for delaying the prayer from its time, nor is it an excuse for combining the two prayers. It is not befitting for the traveler to abandon the congregational prayer if it is facilitated for him on the pretext of travel; because the congregational prayer is obligatory, and shortening and combining are a dispensation. May Allah guide everyone to what He is pleased with, and assist us and you in all good. And peace be upon you, and Allah’s mercy and blessings.
The General President of the Departments of Research
Scientific, Ifta, Da'wah, and Guidance
Peace be upon you, and Allah’s mercy and blessings, and after that:
I refer to your letter dated 10/11/1410 AH, which stated: I would like to present to your eminence a matter in which I had sought your ruling a long time ago, namely combining and shortening prayers while traveling, no matter how long the duration. Since opinions have multiplied on this topic, I hope your eminence will clarify two things for me:
First: When traveling outside the Kingdom, is it permissible for me to shorten and combine prayers no matter how long the duration, as it sometimes exceeds two months? I note that I am unable to pray in Western-style clothing and am forced to return to my residence to pray, and combining and shortening is more relieving. What is the ruling: is it permissible for me to combine and shorten, or not?
Second: I travel frequently to Jeddah and have a residence there, but my place of residence is in Riyadh, and I stay there for a period that sometimes exceeds a month. Is it permissible for me to combine and shorten, or not?
A: I inform you that the travel in which a traveler is granted the dispensations of travel is what is considered travel by custom, and its approximate measure is a distance of eighty kilometers. So, whoever travels to cover this distance or more may avail himself of the dispensations of travel: wiping over the leather socks for three days and their nights, shortening the four-rak'ah prayer to two rak'ahs, combining Dhuhr and Asr in the time of one of them, and likewise Maghrib and Isha, and breaking the fast in Ramadan.
If the traveler arrives at the town he intended to visit and intends to reside there for more than four days, he does not avail himself of the dispensations of travel. If he intends to reside for four days or less, he avails himself of the dispensations of travel.
The traveler who arrives at a town to attend to a need, but does not know when his need will be fulfilled and has not specified a definite period of residence exceeding four days, avails himself of the dispensations of travel, even if his residence exceeds four days.
Wearing Western-style clothing is not an excuse for delaying the prayer from its time, nor is it an excuse for combining the two prayers. It is not befitting for the traveler to abandon the congregational prayer if it is facilitated for him on the pretext of travel; because the congregational prayer is obligatory, and shortening and combining are a dispensation. May Allah guide everyone to what He is pleased with, and assist us and you in all good. And peace be upon you, and Allah’s mercy and blessings.
The General President of the Departments of Research
Scientific, Ifta, Da'wah, and Guidance
Source
binbaz.org.sa
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.