for Allah the Exalted says, “And when you journey through the land, there is no sin upon you if you shorten the prayer.” The Prophet ﷺ, moreover, never performed the prayer while traveling except in its shortened form, and—according to the majority of scholars—shortening is better than completing the full four rakʿahs. In the two Ṣaḥīḥ collections it is reported: “Prayer was first ordained as two rakʿahs, two rakʿahs; it remained so for travel, and was increased for residence.” Ibn ʿUmar said, “The traveler’s prayer is two rakʿahs—a complete prayer, not a deficient one.”

The state of travel begins once a person has left the inhabited limits of his town, for Allah only permitted shortening to one who “strikes out in the land.” Before he departs, he is neither striking out in the land nor deemed a traveler. The Prophet ﷺ likewise would not shorten the prayer until he had set out. Linguistically, the word safar (travel) comes from isfār, “to emerge into the open.” It is said, “The woman safarat her face,” meaning she uncovered it. Accordingly, until a person emerges into the open terrain beyond the dwellings, he is not considered a traveler.