Shortened prayer by a traveller – Continuing from previous issue

Soon we will be entering the Holy Month of Ramadhan, it is felt that it would be useful to cover the eight conditions identifies by all Marajai. The following are some Istiftaat and Fatawa relating to the second condition for the shortening of one’s prayer during one’s travels. Third condition: “One must not change one’s intention on the way [i.e. one must not decide against travelling]. If before travelling four farsakhs one changes one’s mind [about travelling] or becomes unsure [about travelling], and the distance one has already travelled together with the return journey totals less than eight farsakhs, one must perform tamām prayers.”

Imam Khamenei

Q 1: A traveler intends to travel to a place at three shar‘ī farsakhs, but his intention, at the beginning, is to travel a shar‘ī farsakh along a side road to accomplish some business and then return to the main road to continue his journey. What rule applies to the prayers and fasting of this traveler?

A: The traveler’s rule applies to him. It is sufficient, in order to complete the shar‘ī distance, to add what he covered [along the side road] from the time he departed the main road to the time he returned to it.

Q 2: A person travels from the place where he lives to another place within the shar‘ī distance and several times a week goes from the second place to other places so that the total distance exceeds eight shar‘ī farsakhs, what is his duty?

A: If he does not intend to travel the shar‘ī distance when leaving his home, and the distance between his first destination and the subsequent ones is not equal to the shar‘ī distance, the traveler’s rule would not apply to him.

Ayatollah Sistani

Ruling 1. If after travelling some of the way, which together with the return journey totals eight farsakhs, one abandons the journey, in the event that he decides to remain in that place or to return after ten days, or he is unsure about returning or staying there, he must perform tamām prayers.

Ruling 2. If after travelling some of the way, which together with the return journey totals eight farsakhs, one changes his mind and decides to return, he must perform qaṣr prayers even if he wants to stay less than ten days in that place.

Ruling 3. If a person travels towards a place on a journey of eight farsakhs and after going some distance he decides to go somewhere else, in the event that the distance between the first place from where he started his journey to the place where he wants to go is eight farsakhs, he must perform qaṣr prayers.

Ruling 4. If before travelling eight farsakhs one becomes unsure about continuing his journey, and while he is unsure, he does not continue with his journey and later decides to continue with it, he must perform qaṣr prayers until the end of his journey.

Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi  

Issue No.1 – If one changes his mind or wavers his intention before covering 4 farsakh, he should offer full prayers. But if after covering a distance of 4 farsakh the traveller abandons the journey; and if he decides to remain at that place or to return after 10 days; or wavers in the matter of returning or staying there, he should offer complete prayers.

Issue No.2 – If a person commences his journey to go to a place which is at a distance of 8 farsakh or more, and before reaching 8 farsakh he wavers whether to proceed further or stop, and later he takes a firm decision to cover the remaining journey, he should offer shortened prayers. And if in the same state of indecision, he continues travelling till he decides to continue his intended journey, if the remaining distance and the distance that he had earlier covered with intention totals 8 farsakh or more, he should offer shortened prayers.