Volume 2, Page 109a: Shortening the
prayers that consist of four rak'at
Allah says in the Qur'an: "And when you go forth in
the land there is no sin upon you, if you shorten your prayer
when you fear the disbelievers may attack you." This
concession is not limited to situations of danger.
Ya'la ibn Umaiyyah said: "I said to 'Umar ibn al-Khattab:
'Explain to me why the people shorten the salah when Allah
says, 'And when you go forth...[the preceding verse] and those
days are gone now!' 'Umar said: 'I wondered about that too and
I mentioned that to the Prophet and he said: "This is a
charity that Allah, the Exalted, has bestowed upon you, so
accept His charity.'" This is related by the group.
At-Tabari records that Abu Munib al-Jarshi mentioned this
verse to Ibn 'Umar and said: "We are safe now and are not
in fear, should we, then, shorten the salah'?" He
answered him: "You have indeed in the Messenger of Allah
a beautiful pattern (of conduct)."
The issue was also referred to 'Aishah and she said:
"The salah was made fard in Makkah in sets of two rak'at.
When the Prophet sallallahu alehi wasallam came to Medinah,
two rak'at were added to each salah except the maghrib salah
because it is the witr of the daytime, and the dawn prayer due
to its lengthy Qur'anic recital. But if one travels, he
performs the original prayer [i.e., only two rak'at]."
This is related by Ahmad, alBaihaqi, Ibn Hibban, and Ibn
Khuzaimah. Its narrators are trustworthy.
Ibn al-Qayyim says: "The Prophet would pray only two
rak'at for those prayers which consisted of four, whenever he
traveled until he returned to Medinah. And it is not confirmed
that he ever prayed four rak'at [while traveling], and none of
the imams differ on this point, although they do differ about
the ruling of shortening the salah."
'Umar, 'Ali, Ibn Mas'ud, ibn 'Abbas, ibn 'Umar, Jabir and
the Hanafi scholars say that it is fard. The Maliki school
holds that it is sunnah mu'akadah (the stressed one); it is
even more emphasized than the congregational salah. If the
traveler cannot find another traveler to lead him in the salah,
he may pray by himself as it is disliked that he should follow
one who is a resident [i.e., and pray four rak'at] according
to the Maliki school. The Hanbali school holds that it is
preferred for the person to shorten the prayer rather than to
pray the complete salah. The Shaf'i school has a similar
opinion, if the person has traveled a sufficient distance.
The conclusion from the Qur'anic verse is that any
traveling, be it long or short, which falls within the
linguistic definition of the word "travel" would
suffice to shorten one's salah, to combine them and to break
the fast. There is nothing in the sunnah which confines this
general term to any particular meaning. Ibn al-Munzhir and
others have mentioned more than twenty reports on this point.
Here we shall mention some of the more important reports.
Ahmad, Muslim, Abu Dawud, and al-Baihaqi record that Yahya
ibn Yazid said: "I asked Anas ibn Malik about shortening
the prayer, and he said: 'The Messenger of Allah would pray
two rak'at if he had traveled a distance of three miles or
farsakh."' Ibn Hajar writes in Fath al-Bari: "This
is the most authentic hadith which states and clarifies [that
question]." The conflict between mile and farsakh is made
clear in Abu Sa'id al-Khudri's statement: "If the Prophet
traveled a distance of one farsakh, he would shorten his
prayer." This was related by Sa'id ibn Mansur in his
Sunan and by al-Hafiz ibn Hajar in at-Talkhis, and he
implicitly accepted it by not making any further comments
about it. It is well-known that a farsakh equals three miles
and, therefore, Abu Sa'id's hadith removes the confusion which
arises from Anas' hadith when he says that the shortest
distance, due to which the Prophet shortened his prayer, was
three miles. One farsakh is equivalent to 5,541 meters while
one mile equals 1,748 meters. The shortest distance which has
been mentioned with respect to the shortening of salah is one
mile. This was recorded by Ibn abi Shaibah, with a sahih
chain, on the authority of Ibn 'Umar. Ibn Hazm follows this
report, and argues that if the distance is less than one mile,
one is not to shorten the salah, the Messenger of Allah went
to the graveyard of al-Baqi' to bury the dead and (similarly)
he went off to answer the call of nature and did not shorten
his salah.
Concerning what some jurists say, namely, that the journey
must be at least two days long or as some say three days, Imam
Abu al-Qasim alKharqi's refutation of their opinion is
sufficient for us. In al-Mughni he says: 'I do not find any
proof for what those scholars say. The statements of the (sahabah)
companions are contradictory, and they are not a (conclusive)
proof if they differ. Something has been related from Ibn 'Umar
and Ibn 'Abbas which differs from what these scholars use as
proof. Even if that were not the case, their statements do not
constitute a proof when a statement or action of the Prophet
himself exists. Even if their statements were accepted, we
would not be able to follow the distance they mentioned due to
the following two reasons. One, they differ from the sunnah
that has been related from the Prophet and from the clear
meaning of the Qur'an, as the clear meaning of the verse
allows one to shorten one's salah if one makes any journey
upon the earth. Allah says: "If you journey on the earth,
there is no blame upon you if you shorten your prayer."
The condition of there being fear has been deleted as can be
seen in the hadith we recorded from Ya'la ibn Umayyah, and
what remains is the clear meaning of the verse which covers
every type of journey. The Prophet said: "The traveler
may wipe over his socks for a period of three days." This
shows the length of time that one may wipe over the socks and
it cannot be used as a proof for the question we are
discussing here. One could argue that traveling is less than a
three-day journey on the basis of the hadith: "It is not
allowed for any woman who believes in Allah and the last day
to travel a journey of one day, save in the presence of a male
relative." Two, the question of the distance to be
traveled is one that may only be answered by some sort of
revelation from Allah, the Exalted [the Qur' an or Sunnah]; it
is not the type of issue which one may address on the basis of
personal reasoning, nor is there any way to derive an analogy.
The proofs which exist support the opinion that shortening the
salah is permissible for every traveler, unless there is some
consensus to the contrary."
Similar to that is the traveling by planes, trains, and so
forth, or a trip that is in obedience to Allah, the Exalted,
or otherwise. If there is someone whose occupation requires
him to always be traveling, for instance, a pilot, a ship
captain, truck driver, and so on, then he is permitted to
shorten his salah or break his fast as he is truly traveling.
The majority of the scholars are of the opinion that it is
permissible to shorten one's salah when one leaves one's
residence and is outside of one's city, and that is a
condition, and he is not to resume his regular salah until he
reaches the first houses of his city.
Ibn al-Munzhir says: "I do not know of the Prophet
shortening his salah during any of his travels until after he
had left Medinah."
Anas relates: "I prayed four rak'at at Zhul-Halifah."
This is related by the group. Some of the early scholars say
that if one makes the intention to travel, he may shorten his
salah even if he is in his house.
A traveler may shorten his salah as long as he is on a
journey. Likewise if he stays in some place for business or
some other affair, then he may shorten his salah as long as he
is there, even for years. If the person intends to stay in a
place for a certain amount of time then, according to Ibn al-Qayyim,
he remains a traveler, regardless of whether he plans to stay
there for a long or short time, as long as he does not plan to
stay [i.e., reside and not return] in the place that he has
traveled to. The scholars differ on this point. Summing up and
giving his own opinion, Ibn al-Qayyim says: "The
Messenger of Allah stayed in Tabuk for twenty days and during
that time he shortened his salah and he did not say that one
may not shorten his salah if he stays longer than that,
although there is agreement that he did stay there for that
period of time."
In Sahih al-Bukhari, it is recorded that Ibn 'Abbas said:
"The Prophet stayed, during some of his journeys, for
nineteen day and he prayed only two rak'at. If we stayed in a
place for nineteen days, we would not pray the complete salah.
However, if we stayed longer than that, we would perform the
whole salah." Ahmad states that ibn 'Abbas was referring
to the Prophet's stay in Makkah at the time of its conquest
when he said: "The Messenger of Allah stayed in Makkah
for eighteen days during the time of the conquest as he had to
go to Hunain and was not planning to stay there." This is
his interpretation of Ibn 'Abbas' statement. Others say that
Ibn 'Abbas was referring to the Prophet's stay in Tabuk as
Jabir ibn 'Abdullah said: "The Messenger of Allah stayed
in Tabuk for twenty days and performed qasr salah." Imam
Ahmad related this in his Musnad. Al-Miswar ibn Makhramah
reports: "We stayed with Sa'd in some of the cities of
ash-Sham [Syria] for forty days, and Sa'd would perform qasr
while we would offer the whole salah." Naf'i relates:
"Ibn 'Umar was in Azerbaijan for six months, as there was
snow blocking the pass, and he would pray two rak'at."
Hafs ibn 'Ubaidullah says: "Anas ibn Malik stayed in
ash-Sham for two years and he prayed the salah of a
traveler." Anas relates: "The companions of the
Prophet stayed in Ram Hurmuz for seven months and they
shortened their salah." Al-Hassan reports: "I stayed
with 'Abdurrahman ibn Samurah for two years in Kabul, and he
shortened his salah but he did not combine the salah."
Ibrahim says: "We resided in Rai for a year or more and
in Sijistan for two years . . . [and we prayed qasr]. This is
the guidance of the Prophet and his companions, and this is
the correct position.
Concerning other opinions which people follow Imam Ahmad
say: "If a person intends to stay for four days, he has
to offer the whole salah and he may offer qasr if his
intention is for less than that. This is based on an
interpretation of the reports from the Prophet and his
companions [i.e., they never intended to stay for longer than
that and would always say: 'We will leave tomorrow,' and so
on]. This interpretation is obviously suspect. The Prophet
conquered Makkah and stayed there to establish Islam,
eradicate polytheism, and to guide the Arabs. It definitely
goes, without saying, that such an objective does take more
than a day or two to complete. Similarly, his stay in Tabuk
was in preparation for the impending war and he knew that this
might take longer than just four days. In the same way, Ibn 'Umar's
stay in Azerbaijan for six months, and his praying qasr during
the entire time was with the knowledge that it takes more than
two or three days for such snow to melt and the pass to become
traversable. The same is the case with Anas' stay of two years
in ash-Sham and his praying qasr and the companions' stay in
Ram Hurmuz for seven months while shortening their prayers. It
is well known that activities like theirs, such as jihad and
guarding, took more than four days." The followers of
Ahmad maintain: "If one is staying in a place for the
purpose of jihad or due to imprisonment or sickness, then one
may shorten one's salah regardless of whether the person
thinks that such a situation may last for a short time or a
long time." This is correct but there is no proof that
such conditions have been stipulated in the Qur'an, Sunnah,
ijma' (consensus), or practice of the Prophet's companions.
They argued that such conditions are based on what is needed
for the person to fulfill his need while remaining a traveler,
and that is what is less than four days. His response to them
was: 'From where do you derive those conditions, while the
Prophet sallallahu alehi wasallam stayed for more than four
days, shortening his salah, in Makkah and Tabuk, and he did
not mention to anyone anything about it and he never told them
that he never intended to stay for more than four days, even
though he knew that the people would [strictly] follow his
actions concerning the salah. They surely followed him in his
shortening of the salah, and he did not object to their
praying qasr if they were to stay for more than four nights.
This should be made clear as it is very important. Similarly,
the companions (as-sahabah) followed him in that and he did
not say anything [in objection] to those who prayed with
him."
Malik and ash-Shaf'i say: "If one intends to stay for
more than four days, he should perform the whole salah, and if
he intends to stay for less than that, he is to offer qasr."
Abu Hanifah holds: "If one intends to stay for fifteen
days, he should do the qasr. If he intends to stay for less
than that, he should not shorten the salah." This is also
the opinion of al-Laith ibn Sa'd, and it has also been related
from three companions: 'Umar, ibn 'Umar, and Ibn 'Abbas.
Sa'id ibn al-Musayyab is of the opinion that: "If you
stay for four days, you pray four rak'at." A statement
similar to that of Abu Hanifah's has also been related from
him. 'Ali ibn Abi Talib says that if one stays for ten days,
he is to perform the whole salah, and the same has been
related from Ibn ' Abbas .
Al-Hassan says: "One who does not get to his
destination or (city of residence) may shorten salah."
'Aishah says: "One who does not put down his provision
is to shorten the salah."
The four imams agree that if one has some need to take care
of and always has the intention of leaving the next day, then
he may shorten his salah for as long as he is in that state.
However, according to one statement of ash-Shaf'i, he may do
so only for seventeen or eighteen days and he is not to
shorten his salah after that time. Ibn al-Munzhir states in
his Ishraf: "The people of knowledge are in agreement
that a traveler may perform qasr as long as he does not intend
to stay in a place, even though he stays there for
years."
The majority of the scholars are of the opinion that it is
not disliked to perform nawafil during the state in which one
is shortening his salah. On this point, there is no difference
between regular sunnah prayers and other nawafl.
Al-Bukhari and Muslim record that the Prophet made the
ghusl in the house of Umm Hani on the day of the conquest of
Makkah and then he prayed eight rak'at.
Ibn 'Umar reports that the Prophet prayed while riding in
whatever direction he was facing and nodding his head [i.e.,
for the movements of the salah].
Al-Hassan relates: "The companions of the Prophet
while on a journey performed supererogatory prayers before and
after the fard salah."
Ibn 'Umar and others are of the opinion that there are no
nawafl, before or after the fard salah, except for during the
middle of the night. He saw some people praying after the
salah and said: "If I were to pray, I would have
performed the whole salah [as obviously that would have taken
preference]. O nephew, I accompanied the Messenger of Allah
[on joumeys] and he never prayed more than two rak'at until
Allah took his soul. And I accompanied Abu Bakr and he did not
pray more than two rak'at." He also mentioned the name of
'Umar and 'Uthman, then he recited the verse: "Ye have
indeed in the messenger of Allah a beautiful pattern (of
conduct)." This is related by al-Bukhari.
Ibn Qudamah combines what al-Hassan and what Ibn 'Umar say
by concluding that al-Hassan's report points to the fact that
there is no harm in praying nawafil while traveling, whereas
Ibn 'Umar's report points to the fact that there is no harm in
not praying such nawafil.
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