should i shorten my salah?

:salam2:,

if i travel outside of the city but not sure how many days i'll stay here (1 day or 5 days or 10 days).

should i pray normally or qasr?

salamu aaleikom

BrotherInIslam7 said:

salamu aaleikom

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but where's ur help akhi?

aslam o alaikum

AKhi hope ur well and hope this helps


Ruling on shortening prayers whilst travelling
Is it permissible for a person to pray sometimes as resident, i.e. as if he is at home, not shortening or joining of prayers; and to shorten and join prayers together at other times? Or should he be obliged with one opinion only?.

Praise be to Allaah.
Firstly:

With regard to shortening prayers when travelling, this is a confirmed Sunnah (Sunnah mu’akkadah) which should not be forsaken. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) shortened prayers during all his journeys, and it is not proven that he offered the prayers in full whilst travelling.

This has been discussed in the answer to question no. 111894.

But praying in congregation is obligatory for the traveller just as it is obligatory for the non-traveller, and he should not forsake the jamaa’ah (congregation) in order to shorten his prayer, rather he should pray with the congregation, and if the imam offers the prayer in full, then he should offer the prayer in full behind him.

Secondly:

With regard to the traveller joining two prayers, this is permissible, but it is better not to join them unless there is some difficulty in offering each prayer at its own time.

Based on that, the ruling on shortening and joining prayers for the traveller is not one and the same. Shortening the prayers is a confirmed Sunnah for all travellers, whereas joining the prayers is permissible but is not Sunnah, but it may be Sunnah and mustahabb if there is some difficulty involved in not doing it.

In the Sunnah, this is indicated by the fact that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) shortened his prayers on all his journeys, which indicates that the Sunnah for the traveller is to shorten his prayers. As for joining prayers, it is proven that he (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) joined prayers when travelling, and it is also proven that he did not join prayers, which indicates that joining prayers is not a recommended Sunnah for all travellers.

To sum up:

The traveller does not have the choice between shortening or not shortening his prayers; rather it is confirmed that he should shorten his prayers, unless he is praying behind an imam who is offering the prayer in full, in which case he should offer the prayer in full behind him.

As for joining prayers, the traveller has the choice: he may join them or not join them, or he may join them sometimes and not at other times. It is permissible but is not mustahabb, but joining prayers is mustahabb for the traveller if he needs to do that.

And Allaah knows best.


Islam Q&A
http://www.islam-qa.com/en/ref/82751/shortenning prayer

ahmed_indian said:

but where's ur help akhi?

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:salam2:

My post was edited by a sister mod because I had typed an email address of a shaykh (which is against the forum's rules).

You would need to search for 'ilmforall' run by Shaykh Mohammad Al Malikki and then go to contact us section, to find his contact details.

Btw, aren't you in Saudi Arabia ? (if I am not mistaken). You could get on the urdu fatwa-on-call thing and pose your question to them. I am sure there would be some in English as well (but I am not aware of their contact details). Please PM me if you need info on the urdu one.

I hope you find an answer soon Insha Allah.

Wasalaamalaykum waa rahmatullahi

So if I travel to someone's house and stay there for a week, I can shorten all my prayers?????

Tabassum07 said:

So if I travel to someone's house and stay there for a week, I can shorten all my prayers?????

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Praise be to Allaah.

The travel in which sharee’ah gives a concession allowing shortening of prayers is that which is customarily regarded as travel, and the distance involved is approximately eighty kilometres. So the one who is going to travel this distance or more on his outward journey may avail himself of the concessions that are granted to travellers, such as wiping over the khuffayn (leather slippers or socks) for three days and nights, joining and shortening prayers, and not fasting in Ramadaan.

If the traveller reaches the city he has travelled to and intends to stay there for more than four days, then he cannot avail himself of the concession of travelling, but if he intends to stay for four days or less, then he may avail himself of the concession of travelling. If a traveller is staying in a place and he does not know when he will finish his business and he has not set a specific length of time for his stay, he may avail himself of the concessions of travelling even if that goes on for a lengthy period.

To sum up: It is stipulated that the length of the outward journey should not be less than 80 kilometres in order for it to be permissible for you to shorten your prayers. If you are going to stay more than four days you should offer your prayers in full.

With regard to joining prayers – Zuhr and ‘Asr, and Maghrib and ‘Isha’ – that is permissible for the traveller, and it is permissible for a non-traveller too if it is too hard for him to offer every prayer on time because of sickness or important work that cannot be delayed, such as a student taking exams or a doctor doing surgery and so on.
Islamqa

is it compulsory to shorten prayers?
Nowadays we have planes/trains and we can go back and forth 80km, do our work and pray normally without any difficulty.

arzafar said:

is it compulsory to shorten prayers?
Nowadays we have planes/trains and we can go back and forth 80km, do our work and pray normally without any difficulty.

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:salam2:

Why not follow the Sunnah ? Unless there is a scholar who has a different view to the 80 km thing. We common folk don't have the right to pass our personal opinion on such Fiqh matters.

If you are 'travelling' (more than 80 kms ,which is agreed upon), then you can shorten the prayers during that time period (Refer to akhee Abu Talib's post).

so it's not compulsory unless there is some kind of problem/time constraint

Does it only apply if its for 4 days?

:salam2:

Sorry I am going to just derail this slightly -- akhi the email address was removed because we don't allow generally personal emails on the public forum... to protect our brothers and sisters from potentially harmful people, but seeing as how that wasn't personal I was debating whether or not remove it and didnt in the end. But khayr inshaAllaah as long as the information was delivered.

I'm sorry I wasnt able to help much more with this question at this moment.

barakAllaahu feekum

wasalam

BrotherInIslam7 said:

:
If you are 'travelling' (more than 80 kms ,which is agreed upon), then you can shorten the prayers during that time period (Refer to akhee Abu Talib's post).

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*cough* ikhtilaaf *cough*

Salaamu 'alaykkum *smile* Check out the fatwa of Ibn Al-Uthaymeen rahimahullaah.

Question: What’s the distance that a traveler can shorten his prayers? Is combining them permissible instead of shortening them?

Answer: The distance that prayers are shortened – some scholars specified it to be around eighty-three kilometers. Other scholars said it’s whatever is typically considered traveling, even if he (the traveler) did not go beyond eighty kilometers. And whatever people consider not to be traveling then it’s not traveling even if it reached a hundred kilometers.
This last (opinion) is the opinion of the famous scholar of Islaam, Ibn Taymiyyah and that’s because Allaah didn’t define a specific distance that shortening the prayers is allowed nor did the Prophet () specify an exact distance.

Anas ibn Maalik ( :saw2: ) said:
“Whenever the Prophet ( :saw2: ) traveled for three miles or Faraasikh (a measurement of length) then he used to shorten the (4-unit) prayers and pray just two units.” [Recorded by Muslim (no. 691).]

The statement of Shaykh Ibn Taymiyyah is closer to what’s correct. Even when there’s a difference in what people customarily consider traveling, there’s still no problem if the person acts according to the specified distance opinion because some of the Imaams and scholars sincerely striving towards a correct verdict have said it. So, there’s no problem, if Allaah wills. As long as the issue is left undefined, then acting in accordance to what is normally considered travel is the correct opinion.


P.S I am only posting this fatwaa to show how easy it is to follow the deen and that when there is a valid difference of opinion among scholars then people may choose either of them, as long as they choose that opinion with ikhlaas

arzafar said:

so it's not compulsory unless there is some kind of problem/time constraint

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The majority of the scholars have agreed that it is better to shorten the prayer, whether there is some kind of problem/time constraint or not. It is from the sunnah of the Messenger of Allaah :saw2: to take that which is easier and not make the deen hard upon one's self. If one really does feel like praying a lot while travelling, then he can pray as many nawaafil as he wants or even pray tahajjud.

thariq2005 said:

*cough* ikhtilaaf *cough*

Salaamu 'alaykkum *smile* Check out the fatwa of Ibn Al-Uthaymeen rahimahullaah.

Question: What’s the distance that a traveler can shorten his prayers? Is combining them permissible instead of shortening them?

Answer: The distance that prayers are shortened – some scholars specified it to be around eighty-three kilometers. Other scholars said it’s whatever is typically considered traveling, even if he (the traveler) did not go beyond eighty kilometers. And whatever people consider not to be traveling then it’s not traveling even if it reached a hundred kilometers.
This last (opinion) is the opinion of the famous scholar of Islaam, Ibn Taymiyyah and that’s because Allaah didn’t define a specific distance that shortening the prayers is allowed nor did the Prophet () specify an exact distance.

Anas ibn Maalik ( :saw2: ) said:
“Whenever the Prophet ( :saw2: ) traveled for three miles or Faraasikh (a measurement of length) then he used to shorten the (4-unit) prayers and pray just two units.” [Recorded by Muslim (no. 691).]

The statement of Shaykh Ibn Taymiyyah is closer to what’s correct. Even when there’s a difference in what people customarily consider traveling, there’s still no problem if the person acts according to the specified distance opinion because some of the Imaams and scholars sincerely striving towards a correct verdict have said it. So, there’s no problem, if Allaah wills. As long as the issue is left undefined, then acting in accordance to what is normally considered travel is the correct opinion.


P.S I am only posting this fatwaa to show how easy it is to follow the deen and that when there is a valid difference of opinion among scholars then people may choose either of them, as long as they choose that opinion with ikhlaas

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JazakAllahu Khayran..

I would suppose that 80 kilometers would be considered 'travelling' in any part of the world.

samiha said:

:salam2:

Sorry I am going to just derail this slightly -- akhi the email address was removed because we don't allow generally personal emails on the public forum... to protect our brothers and sisters from potentially harmful people, but seeing as how that wasn't personal I was debating whether or not remove it and didnt in the end. But khayr inshaAllaah as long as the information was delivered.

I'm sorry I wasnt able to help much more with this question at this moment.

barakAllaahu feekum

wasalam

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respected sister,

I had seen the email address posted here once by a mod brother. So, I thought it would be okay to post it here again, as Islam qa wasnt a lot of help.

I do agree with the policy of TTI regarding to email addresses. Therefore I understand why the address was removed. No problems there.

BarakAllahu Feek for the clarification.

Wasalaamalaykum

i got two Qs firstly about this fatwa:

shaheerpak said:

But praying in congregation is obligatory for the traveller just as it is obligatory for the non-traveller, and he should not forsake the jamaa’ah (congregation) in order to shorten his prayer, rather he should pray with the congregation, and if the imam offers the prayer in full, then he should offer the prayer in full behind him.

Click to expand...

it says pray full but i remember being a small kid and my father joined a congregation,the imaam was to pray four rakat but my father was asked to reamin sitting on thushood and say salaams on second rakat as he was a traveller and he was to shorten his prayers:confused;so i'm confused now??

secondly akhi,

thariq2005 said:

The majority of the scholars have agreed that it is better to shorten the prayer, whether there is some kind of problem/time constraint or not. It is from the sunnah of the Messenger of Allaah :saw2: to take that which is easier and not make the deen hard upon one's self. If one really does feel like praying a lot while travelling, then he can pray as many nawaafil as he wants or even pray tahajjud.

Click to expand...

can we pray nawafil when travelling????

thariq2005 said:

*cough* ikhtilaaf *cough*

Salaamu 'alaykkum *smile* Check out the fatwa of Ibn Al-Uthaymeen rahimahullaah.

Question: What’s the distance that a traveler can shorten his prayers? Is combining them permissible instead of shortening them?

Answer: The distance that prayers are shortened – some scholars specified it to be around eighty-three kilometers. Other scholars said it’s whatever is typically considered traveling, even if he (the traveler) did not go beyond eighty kilometers. And whatever people consider not to be traveling then it’s not traveling even if it reached a hundred kilometers.
This last (opinion) is the opinion of the famous scholar of Islaam, Ibn Taymiyyah and that’s because Allaah didn’t define a specific distance that shortening the prayers is allowed nor did the Prophet () specify an exact distance.

Anas ibn Maalik ( :saw2: ) said:
“Whenever the Prophet ( :saw2: ) traveled for three miles or Faraasikh (a measurement of length) then he used to shorten the (4-unit) prayers and pray just two units.” [Recorded by Muslim (no. 691).]

The statement of Shaykh Ibn Taymiyyah is closer to what’s correct. Even when there’s a difference in what people customarily consider traveling, there’s still no problem if the person acts according to the specified distance opinion because some of the Imaams and scholars sincerely striving towards a correct verdict have said it. So, there’s no problem, if Allaah wills. As long as the issue is left undefined, then acting in accordance to what is normally considered travel is the correct opinion.


P.S I am only posting this fatwaa to show how easy it is to follow the deen and that when there is a valid difference of opinion among scholars then people may choose either of them, as long as they choose that opinion with ikhlaas

Click to expand...

Oh Jazakallahu kayr for this.

Seeking Allah's Mercy said:

i got two Qs firstly about this fatwa:


it says pray full but i remember being a small kid and my father joined a congregation,the imaam was to pray four rakat but my father was asked to reamin sitting on thushood and say salaams on second rakat as he was a traveller and he was to shorten his prayers:confused;so i'm confused now??

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:salam2:

The imam has to be followed. So if the traveler joins a congregation that is praying the full 4 rakah, then he has to complete it with them.

In the reverse case, if a resident joins a congregation of 'travelers', who are praying only 2 rakah, then the resident doesnt make tasleem with them, rather he completes his remaining 2 rakah on his own.

As for making nawafil while travelling, why not ?

Btw Rasool SallAllahu Alleihi Wasallam never used to miss the Sunnah of Fajr and Witr, even when traveling.

BrotherInIslam7 said:

:salam2:

The imam has to be followed. So if the traveler joins a congregation that is praying the full 4 rakah, then he has to complete it with them.

In the reverse case, if a resident joins a congregation of 'travelers', who are praying only 2 rakah, then the resident doesnt make tasleem with them, rather he completes his remaining 2 rakah on his own.

As for making nawafil while travelling, why not ?

Btw Rasool SallAllahu Alleihi Wasallam never used to miss the Sunnah of Fajr and Witr, even when traveling.

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maybe it was the reverse situation and i don't remeber so well:shymuslima1erhaps the imaam was a traveler

i know about sunnah and witr but you knowthere is some mustahabb prayers with every salah so i asked related to that........coz i was unsure so i missed it the other day!!!

jazakallah kharian anyways!!