Traveller’s Prayer – Part 3

According to the fatwas of the Grand Religious Authorities: Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Khamenei, Ayatollah Sistani, and Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi (may Allah prolong their blessings):

Fatāwā presented without citing a differing opinion or a specific reference are the common rulings shared by all of the three respected Marāji‘. In cases where the ruling of one Marjaʿ differs from that of the other two, it is indicated in a footnote under the same number, mentioning the Marjaʿ by name.

Occupational Travel

1. One of the conditions for shortening the prayer (qasr) while travelling is that the journey must not be part of one’s occupation. Therefore, if the travel is occupational—whether the person’s job essentially consists of travelling (such as a driver or a pilot), or travelling is a prerequisite for the job (such as a doctor or a teacher who travels for work)—then in that journey the prayer is performed in full (tamām) and the fast is valid.
2. Three conditions are necessary to fulfil a job-oriented trip:

• Intention to make a job-oriented trip;
• Starting the job-oriented trip; and
• Continuation of the intention to continue the job-oriented trip.

3. The criterion for whether travel is considered occupational is **common practice/custom (ʿurf)**. If, in a particular case, it is doubtful whether travel is عرفاً (customarily) regarded as a profession or occupation, then the prayer is shortened (qasr) and the fast is invalid.
4. Considering travel to be occupational is **not dependent on earning money or making a living from it**. Therefore, a teacher who travels to teach voluntarily (without pay) is still regarded as undertaking occupational travel, and their prayer during that journey is performed in full (tamām).

Cases in Which Travel Is Not Considered a job-oriented trip:

(In these cases, the prayer is shortened (qasr) and the fast is invalid.)

1. If a person’s occupation is not travel, then even if they make many journeys, their prayer is shortened (qasr). This applies whether they initially intend to make repeated trips—such as someone who plans to travel every Friday from Tehran to Masjid Jamkaran for pilgrimage—or they make many trips unintentionally and incidentally, such as a patient who is forced to travel frequently to another city for medical treatment.
2. 2. If a person’s job involves commuting outside the city for a distance less than the legally defined travel distance (masāfat sharʿiyyah)—such as some taxi drivers—and they happen, on occasion, to travel that legal distance for the same job, that journey is not considered occupational travel, and their prayer is shortened (qasr).
3. If a person whose occupation involves travel (whether travel constitutes the essence of the job or is a prerequisite for it) undertakes a non-occupational journey, even if it is to their usual place of work, their prayer is shortened (qasr). For example, someone whose job is transporting passengers from one city to another must perform shortened prayers if they travel for Ḥajj or to visit the holy shrines (ʿAtabāt).

Establishment and Commencement of the Ruling of Occupational Travel
(From what point the prayer is performed in full)

1. After fulfilling the three above-mentioned conditions, the rules of the trip are applicable from the first work trip, and one performs complete prayer and fasting is valid.
2. If a legally accountable person undertakes only one long journey for their job—such as a long sea route—it is not unlikely that, according to common custom (ʿurf), this journey is regarded as occupational. Therefore, the prayer is performed in full (tamām), even if there is no intention to continue such travel; that is, a single long journey can substitute for the intention of continuity.
3. If a person engages in an occupation that involves travel once a year for a fixed period, for example one month—such as a Ḥajj caravan leader—and they intend to engage in this work every year, then their prayer is performed in full even on the first journey. However, if they do not intend continuity, the prayer is shortened (qasr).
4. If a person has occupational travel during part of the year and their intention and resolve is to continue doing so every year—such as driving for one or two months in the summer—their travel takes the ruling of occupational travel, and from the first journey their prayer is performed in full.

Ayatollah Sistani: A person whose occupation involves travel during a portion of the year—such as a driver who rents out their vehicle only in summer or winter—must perform the prayer in full during such journeys. The recommended precaution (iḥtiyāṭ mustaḥabb) is to perform both the shortened (qasr) and full (tamām) prayers.

Seeking Knowledge and Its Relation to Occupational Travel
(Disputed cases and matters of precaution)

1. If traveling is for the purpose of receiving education, training, or for the purpose of building one’s profession and occupation (for example, travel to attend a training course arranged for an employee), the traveller’s prayer is complete.
2. If a student travels for the purpose of studying in order to get a job in the future, by way of obligatory precaution, they should pray both full and shortened prayers and should observe fasting during the study trip, and then observe their redress (qaḍā’) as well.

3.  If education is accompanied by joining a professional group, such as a student of Islamic studies who is given the title of «cleric» from the very beginning of his education or students of a military academy who, after spending several months of training, receive an army rank and epaulet, this comes under the jurisdiction of being a profession, and during such a study trip, they should perform complete prayers and fasts.