alone. The evidence is with those who permit the shortening of prayer for every traveller, unless a consensus is established to the contrary.” End quote.

Revelation-based determination means restricting oneself to the textual evidence from the Lawgiver. Allah knows that Muslims travel by night and by day, yet not a single statement has been transmitted specifying that travel is defined by such-and-such a distance. Nor did any of the Companions ask for a precise definition of travel, even though, whenever they encountered matters stated in general terms, they would ask the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) to explain and clarify them. Since they did not ask, it is known that the matter was clear to them: it is a linguistic concept, to be understood according to what the language entails. If that is so, we must ask: does travel have a defined limit in the Arabic language? Ibn Faris states in Maqayis al-Lughah that it denotes leaving one’s place of residence.

Since no report from the Messenger (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) restricts travel to a particular distance, and since there is no linguistic definition that restricts it, the matter must be referred back to customary usage. It is authentically reported in Sahih Muslim from Anas ibn Malik (may Allah be pleased with him) that, when the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) had travelled three miles or three farsakhs, he would pray two rak'ahs (1). It is well known that three farsakhs are a very small proportion of sixteen farsakhs.

Thus, the sound view is that there is no fixed distance; rather, the matter is referred to customary usage. However, Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him) said: A long distance covered in a short time is travel, and a lengthy stay over a short distance is travel. Thus, the issue falls into four possible cases: