Part 1

The Rulings of the Traveler

Based upon the book Useful Rulings Concerning the Traveler By Sheikh Abdullah Bin Abdur-Rahman Al-Jibreen

Memphis Dawah E-books © www.memphisdawah.com MEMPHIS DAWAH E-BOOKS

Fatawa Concerning the Purification of the Traveler 5

Fatawa Concerning the Prayer of the Traveler 7

Fatawa Concerning the Fast of those who are Traveling 18

General Fatawa Concerning the Traveler 20

2 and may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon His Messenger Muhammad and his family and companions and all those who follow them and their way until the Day of Resurrection.

This e-book is based upon the book Al-mufeed fee ahkaam al musaafir (Useful Rulings Concerning the Traveler) collected by Muhammad Bin Abdur-Rahman al-Arefee

Some of the major issues addressed in this booklet are:

- When is a person considered to be a traveler? - Issues concerning combining and shortening one's prayer - The fast of a traveler - The Permissibility of Traveling alone - Issues concerning the tayamum of a traveler

This work is free for all to download from www.MemphisDawah.com , to distribute electronically, to read and print for personal study.

And finally we ask Allah by all of His most beautiful names and lofty characteristics to bless us with the truth, and bless us with following it and allow us to die upon it.

May Allah send his blessings upon our Prophet Muhammad and upon his family and his companions.

With traveling being much easier, much more widespread and different nowadays - one being able to travel half-way around the world within a day or so - Muslims must be familiar with its rulings.

However if one looks at the condition of those who are traveling nowadays, he would notice that many of them are unaware of the fundamental rulings of the traveler.

After noticing this and hearing so many questions from several different people about this issue of traveling, it became apparent that there was a need to gather rulings concerning traveling into a book.

So for this reason, we selected some issues and questions that are most commonly confronted by the traveler, and left those that are rare.

All of the questions originate from the book "Useful Rulings Concerning the Traveler" and are answered by Shaykh Abdullah bin Abdur-Rahman Al-Jibreen

We ask Allah to make this work beneficial to the reader.

Question 1: A man is traveling by car when the time for Thuhr begins. While he is on the highway he looks for water from amongst his belongings in his car to perform wudu', but finds no water. However, he is certain that after a half hour, that he will reach a place where water is available. Is it permissible for him to make Tayamum and pray or should he delay his prayer until he reaches an area that has water?

Answer 1: Ali (May Allah be pleased with him) used to order the Muslims to delay the prayer until they reached water, if they were advancing towards a near place that had water. He used to prohibit them from praying until the water arrived if he sent someone to retrieve water. This was done except when they felt the time for prayer would expire before the water reached them or before they reached the water as Ibn Abi Shayba and others have said. For this reason the Fuqahaa said that it is better to delay the Tayamum to the latter part of the time for prayer, if you expect to reach water.

Question 2: We travel by car sometimes and the prayer time begins while we have no water with us, we stop, make tayamum and pray. Are our actions correct or are we obligated to bring water with us seeing that there is no hardship?

Answer 2: You are obligated to bring water if you know there will be a need for it and there is no hardship upon you, just as you would bring water for drinking and other purposes. On the other hand if you know you will reach water during your journey at a gas station, small town or you will reach your destination before the time leaves for prayer, then you are not obligated to bring water with you. It is always preferred to bring water since there is always the possibility of the unexpected, such as your car breaking down.

Question 3: A man is traveling by car when prayer time begins, so he looks for water for wudu' but does not find any, so he makes tayamum and prays. Afterwards he sees a bottle of water under his car seat that he had no knowledge of. Does he have to repeat his prayer?

5 have to repeat the prayer since there was no negligence.

Question 4: A man who was traveling by car, while Maghrib prayer began, immediately performed tayamum, as a result of not having water, even though he knew he could have reached a gas station in fifteen minutes. He prayed immediately in order to pray as soon as the time for prayer came in. Was his action correct?

Answer 4: If he was sure he would reach water after a few minutes, yet he made tayamum, then his prayer is not valid because he prayed with tayamum while having the ability to reach water. He is allowed to continue traveling and delay the prayer even until time of Ishaa and pray them both together. This is why we said he should repeat the prayer.

Question 5: A man was traveling by car, pulled over to the side of the road to sleep, and when he woke up he found he was in the state of Janabah (Needing Ghusl). But the water that he had was only enough to perform Wudu'. So what should he do?

Answer 5: If the water is a small amount then use it to make wudu', and then perform tayamum in place of the Ghusl. As for the situation where the water is enough for him to perform Ghusl for some parts of the body and not others, then he should make Ghusl for those body parts and make tayamum in place of the rest. This is due to the general understanding of the verse:

"So keep your duty to Allah as best you can, and listen, and obey, and spend; that is better for your souls." {At-Taghabun: 16}

And the hadith "and if I order you to something then fear Allah concerning it as much as possible" {Al-Bukhari and others}

Question 6: A man traveling by car while the time for prayer began stops at a gas station but finds no water, except with a man who is selling water for a high unreasonable price. If he is able to afford it, does he have to purchase the (high priced) water or can he make tayamum?

Answer 6: He does not have to buy the water as long as it is expensive; on the other hand if the water was at regular cost or slightly above, then he would be obligated to purchase it as long as he could afford it. Otherwise it is sufficient to perform tayamum.

6 the bathroom in search of water but found no water, only tissue. He requested water from the flight attendant, but he stated they had a low supply of water and it was reserved for drinking. What should he do since there is no dirt to make tayamum?

Answer 7: In this instance he makes tayamum on the floor of the plane so he strikes the ground of the walkway and performs tayamum then prays according to his situation. For indeed Allah says "So keep your duty to Allah as best you can, and listen, and obey, and spend; that is better for your souls." {At-Taghabun: 16} this is the ruling for the one who fears that the time of prayer will expire before arriving at his destination.

Fatawa Concerning the Prayer of the Traveler

Question 8: A man was traveling by car and stopped after sunset to offer Maghrib and Ishaa but once he got out the car he could not determine the direction of the qiblah. What should he do?

Answer 8: He should exert his utmost effort to find the direction of the qiblah, then he should pray towards that direction which he believes is most likely the qiblah. If after performing the prayer he discovers that he prayed towards a direction other than the qiblah, then there is no need to repeat the prayer. In some hadith it was mentioned that the Sahabah were on a journey and they differed about the direction of the qiblah so they prayed in varying directions based upon their assumption. In the morning it became apparent that some of them erred, and the Prophet did not order them to repeat their prayer. However if this person is in a town or a city, and was negligent in asking the people about the direction and thus prayed in the wrong direction, then he has to repeat the prayer. On the other hand, if he is in an uninhabited land and there is no one to ask and he tries his utmost in determining the direction of the qiblah and erred then he does not have to repeat the prayer.

7 each one pointing to a different direction they believed to be the qiblah. What should they do when they both claim to be certain that their direction is correct?

Answer 9: The people of knowledge mentioned that if two people differ about the direction of the qiblah while claiming the other is wrong, then it is not permissible for one to follow the other. As long as he is certain or resolute about his opinion, however if one is uncertain then he follows the one who is certain. If there are three people and one has no idea which way is the qiblah, and his two companions differ, then he should follow the one who is more reliable.

Question 10: A man lives in east Riyadh, and he wants to travel by car to Makkah. He got in his car (to travel) thirty minutes before the athaan of Asr. However, as soon as he was about to leave the city limits of Riyadh the athaan was called. Does he pray Asr four raka'ahs since he is still within city limits, or does he pray two due to the time of travel?

Answer 10: If the time for prayer began while he is still within city limits, then he must in this case pray four raka'ahs because he has not yet become a traveler. The Fuqahaa (men of jurisprudence) have explicitly stated that it is not permissible to shorten your prayer until you have left the houses and buildings of the city (city limits).

Question 11: A man arrives in his city at the time of Ishaa after returning from a journey. He enters the Masjid while they are praying Ishaa, but he has not prayed Maghrib. How should he pray?

Answer 11: He must pray Maghrib before Ishaa so that he will be praying in the correct sequence, but how does he pray? The scholars of the past say he prays Maghrib by himself or with his traveling companions, and he does not pray with those people praying the Ishaa prayer. This is the opinion of the scholars of the past.

However the contemporary scholars permit him to pray with the congregation which is performing Ishaa. They say he enters with the intention of praying Maghrib while they are praying Ishaa, but when the Imam stands for the fourth rak'ah he remains sitting reciting the tashahud and makes taslim silently or waits until the Imam makes taslim. Afterwards he stands up and performs Ishaa. By doing so he gets the reward of praying with the congregation and his differing from the Imam is overlooked and pardoned due to necessity. This issue is an ijtihaadi issue and it has extensive differing opinions, and I am of the first opinion, which is the opinion of the scholars of the past, like Muhammad ibn Ibrahim, and Abdullah bin Hamid, and is mentioned in the classical books of Fiqh.