Chapter: The Traveler’s Prayer
The journey that alters the legal rulings is one in which a person intends a destination that lies a three-day-and-night march away, calculated by the normal pace of camels or on foot; distance covered by sailing is not taken into account.
In our school, the traveler’s obligation in every four-unit prayer is two rakʿahs; he is not permitted to add to them. If he prays four and, after the second rakʿah, sits for the time it takes to recite the tashahhud, the first two suffice for the obligatory prayer and the final two are counted as voluntary. Should he fail to sit that long after the second rakʿah, the prayer is invalid.
A person who sets out on a journey begins offering two-rakʿah prayers once he has passed the last houses of his town, and he remains under the rulings of travel until he resolves to stay in a locality for fifteen days or more, whereupon he must pray in full. If he intends to stay for a shorter period, he continues to shorten.
If he enters a town without deciding to remain there for fifteen days—saying instead, “I will leave tomorrow,” or, “the day after,” and this continues for years—he still prays two rakʿahs.
When an army sets foot in enemy territory and plans to remain there for fifteen days, its members nevertheless continue to shorten their prayers.
If a traveler joins the prayer of a resident while the time of that prayer still remains, he must complete the prayer. Should he join him in a make-up prayer, his following is not valid.
When a traveler leads residents, he concludes with salām after two rakʿahs and the residents then complete their prayer. It is recommended that, upon giving salām, he say: “Complete your prayer, for we are travelers.”
If a traveler enters his own home city, he prays in full even if he has no intention of residing there.
Someone who once had a home town, then relocated and adopted another as his residence, and thereafter travels and enters his former home town, does not complete the prayer.
If a traveler intends to stay in Mecca or Mina for fifteen days, he still shortens his prayers.
Whoever misses a prayer while traveling makes it up as two rakʿahs when resident, and whoever misses a prayer while resident makes it up as four when traveling.
The concession applies equally to the traveler who is obedient and the one whose journey involves disobedience.