Shortening prayer during umrah/travel

 

The concession of shortening and joining the prayers during your journey

(2.1)  Once you are a traveller [having left your area of residence] you may combine the prayers as this is a concession from Allah and also the sunnah of the messenger (peace and blessings be upon him)

Ibn ‘Umar (may Allaah be pleased with him) said: I accompanied the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) and he did not do more than two rak’ahs whilst travelling, and the same applies to Abu Bakr, ‘Umar and ‘Uthmaan (may Allaah be pleased with them). Narrated by al-Bukhaari (1102).

Ya'la bin Umayyah said: I said to 'Umar ibn al-Khattaab "Verily Allaah has said “..… if you shorten your prayers, for fear the unbelievers may attack you….(Qur’an, surah al-Nisa verses 4:101)” and now the people feel secure." 'Umar said, "[Indeed] I wondered the same thing you are wondering, so I mentioned it to the Prophet (peace be upon him) and he said '[It is] a charity that Allaah has bestowed upon you so accept His charity.' " [Narrated by Al-Tirmidhi, hadith 3034 and Abu 'Isa at-Tirmidhi said this hadith is hasan sahih.)

 

Umayyah ibn Abdullah ibn Khaalid ibn Asid said to Ibn 'Umar, "How can you shorten the prayer when Allaah the Almighty has said, “….There is no blame on you if you shorten your prayers, for fear… ….(Qur’an, surah al-Nisa verses 4:101)' ," so Ibn 'Umar said, "O son of my brother, verily the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) came to us when we were misguided, so he taught us, and among what he taught us was that Allaah the Almighty has ordered us to pray two raka'a during travel." (Narrated by an-Nasa’i, hadith no. 457)

Note:  The majority of scholars are of the view that the distance at which a traveler is given the concession to join prayers and not fast is forty-eight miles. Ibn Qudaamah said in al-Mughni: “The view of Abu ‘Abd-Allaah (i.e., Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal) is that it is not permissible to shorten the prayers for a distance of less than sixteen farsakhs, and a farsakh is three miles, so the distance is forty-eight miles. This was the estimation of Ibn ‘Abbaas. He said: From ‘Usfaan to Makkah, or from al-Taa’if to Makkah, or from Jeddah to Makkah.” Based on this, the distance at which it is permissible to shorten prayers is the distance of two days’ travel aiming directly for that destination. This is the view of Ibn ‘Abbaas (r.a) and Ibn ‘Umar (r.a), and the view of Imaam Maalik (r.h), Imaam al-Layth (r.h) and Imaam al-Shaafa’I (r.h). The equivalent to this in kilometers is approximately 80 km.  See: Tuhfat al-Muhtaaj (2/370) and al-Mawsoo’ah al-Fiqhiyyah (27/270). Some scholars do not define it by a particular distance, rather they refer the matter to local customs such as Ibn Taymiyyah (r.h) and Ibn al-Qayyim (r.h)

Can we shorten and Join both ?

It is reported from Ibn ‘Abbaas (may Allaah be pleased with him) who said: The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) joined Zuhr and ‘Asr, and Maghrib and ‘Isha’, in Madeenah when there was no fear and no rain. According to the hadeeth of Wakee’ he said: I said to Ibn ‘Abbaas: Why did he do that? He said: So that his ummah would not be subjected to hardship, i.e., so that they would not face any difficulty. [narrated by Muslim in his Saheeh, hadeeth (705)]

Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah (may Allaah have mercy on him) said in Majmoo’ al-Fataawa (22/293):

 

The reason for shortening prayers is travelling only, and it is not permissible in situations other than travelling. As for joining prayers, the reason for it is need and excuses, so if a person needs to he may join both shortened and full-length prayers whilst travelling, and he may join prayers when it is raining and so on, or because of sickness and the like, and for other reasons, because the purpose behind it is to spare the ummah hardship (as it is. End quote.

You cannot shorten the fajr and maghrib prayer, but for the rest:

1-   Dhur (2 Rakaats) & Asr (2 Rakaats) together (but separately by concluding each prayer with a tasleem , i.e pray 2 rak’ah of Dhur, give the tasleem i.e end the Dhur prayer and then pray 2 rak’ah of ‘Asr )

 

2-   Maghrib (3 Rakaats) & Ishaa (2 Rakaats) together With regards to the sunnah/nawafil prayers (voluntary) prayed before and after every obligatory unit, it is known that the prophet (s.a.w) never prayed any sunnah/nafil (voluntary) prayers during travel except for Witr. So it is better to follow the sunnah.

The majority of scholars (jumhoor ul-'ulmeaa') assert that salaat ul-witr (witr prayer) is a sunnah mu'akkada (confirmed sunnah that the Prophet peace be upon him, practiced consistently), and that it is not obligatory. This is based on the hadith (saying) regarding the bedouin who once came to the Prophet asking about Islam, the Prophet answered, "Five prayers within one day-and-night." The bedouin asked, "Am I obliged to other than those?" The Prophet replied, "Unless you volunteer of your own." (Saheeh Bukhaari & Muslim)

 

Some scholars have said that qiyaam ul-layl (prayer at the heart of night) and salaat ul-witr are the best of the voluntary prayers (al-nawaafil). Therefore, one should consistently practice them and not neglect them. The Prophet did not neglect the prayers during night nor two rak'ah before al-fajr neither in residence nor in travel (as related in al-sunnah al-sahihah)

It was narrated that ‘Aasim ibn ‘Umar ibn al-Khattaab said: “I accompanied Ibn ‘Umar on the way to Makkah. He led us in praying two rak’ahs of Zuhr prayer, then he left and we left with him until he came to where his luggage was. He sat down and we sat with him, then he looked towards the place where we had prayed, and he saw some people standing and he asked, ‘What are these people doing?’ I said, ‘They are praying voluntary prayers.’ He said, ‘If I wanted to pray (naafil or Sunnah prayers) after the fard prayer I would have completed my prayer (i.e., not shortened it). O son of my brother, I accompanied the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) whilst travelling and he did not add anything to these two rak’ahs until Allaah took him (in death); and I accompanied Abu Bakr and he did not add anything to these two rak’ahs until Allaah took him (in death); and I accompanied ‘Umar and he did not add anything to these two rak’ahs until Allaah took him (in death); and I accompanied ‘Uthmaan and he did not add anything to these two rak’ahs until Allaah took him (in death). And Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):

‘Indeed in the Messenger of Allaah (Muhammad) you have a good example to follow’ [Qur’an, al-Ahzaab 33:21].’”

Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: This demonstrates his understanding, may Allaah be pleased with him. For Allaah has reduced the four-rak’ah prayers for the traveller by half. If it were prescribed to pray the two rak’ahs (of Sunnah prayer) before and after [during one’s travel], it would be more appropriate to pray the fard prayer in full instead.[ Zaad al-Ma`aad, 1/316]

Another factor which indicates that it is prescribed to omit the regular Sunnah prayers whilst travelling is the saheeh report from Ibn ‘Umar (may Allaah be pleased with him) who said: “The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him during his travel) combined Maghrib and ‘Isha prayer in Jam’ (i.e., Muzdalifah), reciting the iqaamah for each of them, and he did not pray Sunnah in between or after either of them.”  [Narrated by al-Bukhaari, 1673]