Fiqh | Lesson 32 The Prayer of the Traveller

Saturday 15 July

Chapter of Prayer: Prayer of those having Legal Excuses

  • Brief recap of last lesson on the prayer of the ill person
  • The Traveller can shorten some of the prayers
  • From among the ones with legal excuses or leeway regarding the prayer is the traveller
  • It is legislated to shorten a 4 Rakah prayer down to 2
  • Reminder that originally the 4 rakah prayers (dhur, asr, isha) used to be 2 and afterwards were legislated to be 4 except for the traveller
  • The 2 Rakah prayer (fajr) and the 3 Rakah prayer (maghrib) cannot be shortened
  • What the Quran says about shortening prayer
  • The prophet when he used to travel he would always shorten the 4 Rakahs to 2
  • Ibn Umar said “the traveller’s prayer is 2 Rakahs and that is complete…”
  • When are you allowed to shorten your prayer? (what defines you as a traveller?)
    • You must be travelling in order to shorten prayer, e.g. if traveling at 13:00 one cannot shorten if still resident at 12:00
    • Do you have to leave the boundary of your city?
    • Opinions of scholars quantifying the distance
    • Taking into account the norms of the people
  • What about if one makes regular journeys (e.g. daily), do you combine and shorten?
    • g. regular commuter, taxi driver, courier or deliveryman etc.

  • Combining prayers:
    • The traveller can combine Dhur and Asr at the time of either of them
    • The traveller can also combine Maghrib and Isha at the time of either of them
    • What if you pray maghrib and set off on journey and you can arrive at your destination before Isha has finished, can you combine/shorten?
  • What if you travel to your destination or stop for a rest, and stay for a few days, during those days (whilst still not returned back home) can you still shorten and combine?
    • If less than 4 days in your destination (e.g. spending 3 days at location), you can shorten but it is preferable to not combine and to rather pray during the set times
    • However, if you find it difficult to perform each prayer at its due time then it is permissible to combine whilst at that place
    • What if you know you will spend 4 days or more at a destination during travel, can you still combine or shorten?
    • Various examples
  • Narration on how the Prophet would pray on journey During the battle of Tabuk
  • what happens when you come across a mosque whilst travelling?
    • Join their congregation? How do you pray behind imam?
  • Q&A
    • Question about praying in hotel around Masjid Al-Haraam
    • Question about Arafa and climbing mount Hira

 

NEXT WEEK insha Allah

  • The Prayer of Riders
  • The Fear Prayer