Lesson 32 The Prayer of the Traveller by Alhuda Bolton

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?)
o 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
o Do you have to leave the boundary of your city?
o Opinions of scholars quantifying the distance
o Taking into account the norms of the people
• What about if one makes regular journeys (e.g. daily), do you combine and shorten?
o E.g. regular commuter, taxi driver, courier or deliveryman etc.

• Combining prayers:
o The traveller can combine Dhur and Asr at the time of either of them
o The traveller can also combine Maghrib and Isha at the time of either of them
o 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?
o 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
o However, if you find it difficult to perform each prayer at its due time then it is permissible to combine whilst at that place
o What if you know you will spend 4 days or more at a destination during travel, can you still combine or shorten?
o 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?
o Join their congregation? How do you pray behind imam?

• Q&A
o Question about praying in hotel around Masjid Al-Haraam
o Question about Arafa and climbing mount Hira

NEXT WEEK insha Allah
• The Prayer of Riders
• The Fear Prayer