Mu' meneen Brothers and Sisters,

As Salaam Aleikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.  (May Allah's Peace, Mercy and Blessings be upon all of you)

One of our brothers/sisters has asked this question:

Dear Burhan,

Does the email that is attached below mean that if I pray a full prayer while on a trip, than I am doing something wrong? and will Allah punish me for it ? The 89 km that you mentioned might have been a long trip in the days of the  rasoul (as you said 3 days and 3 nights), but in this day it takes less than  an hour, so does it still apply or should the distance be modified so that it is measured by the amount of trouble we go through to do it. What I mean is instead of calculating how far they travelled in 3 days and 3 nighhts on a camel and take that as our standard, why don't we try to see how much trouble they took and try to equate that in today terms.

Thank You.

(There may be some grammatical and spelling errors in the above statement. The forum does not change anything from questions, comments and statements received from our readers for circulation in confidentiality.)

Answer:

Clarification on Qasr prayers.

In the name of Allah, We praise Him, seek His help and ask for His forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides none can misguide, and who-ever He allows to fall astray, none can guide them aright. We bear witness that there is no one (no idol, no person, no grave, no prophet, no imam, no dai, nobody!) worthy of worship but Allah Alone, and we bear witness that Muhammad (saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of His Messengers.

Q-1: Does the email that is attached below mean that if I pray a full prayer while on a trip, than I am doing something wrong? and will Allah punish me for it ?

To say that one is committing a sin when praying full prayers while traveling, would be taking things out of proportion and context.  The ‘qasr’ or shortened prayer is an allowance and a Mercy from the All-Merciful, and whenever Allah gives His slaves anything from His Mercy, we should accept it.  And Allah is our witness, we are all in desperate need of Allah’s Mercy.

The scholars in Islam are unanimous in their opinion that it would be preferable for a person to pray ‘qasr’ prayers whenever the conditions are met for shortened prayer.

Q-2: The 89 km that you mentioned might have been a long trip in the days of the  rasoul (as you said 3 days and 3 nights), but in this day it takes less than  an hour, so does it still apply or should the distance be modified so that it is measured by the amount of trouble we go through to do it. What I mean is instead of calculating how far they travelled in 3 days and 3 nighhts on a camel and take that as our standard, why don't we try to see how much trouble they took and try to equate that in today terms.

This issue has been debated by the scholars in Islam, and they are unanimous in their decision that the real issue is not the distance or the mode of travel, but rather whether one is in the physical state of traveling.  The distance is only used by the scholars today as a benchmark.   The truth is that almost all sects in Islam and their scholars are unanimous that the distance should be used as a barometer when determining whether one is traveling or not.  Besides, it would be quite impossible today, to equate the trouble taken by the travel in the times of the Prophet (saws).    The thumb rule was that whenever the Messenger of Allah (saws) traveled outside the city of Medina and the total distance would take more than 3 days and nights journey, he would pray the shortened prayer.   If our intention is to follow Islam by following the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (saws), then Allah will reward us accordingly.

And Allah Alone Knows Best and He is the Only Source of Strength.

May Allah guide you and us all to the Straight Path of Islam.   

Whatever written of Truth and benefit is only due to Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error is of me.  Allah Alone Knows Best and He is the Only Source of Strength.

Your Brother in Islam,

Burhan