Part 4

Abu Sa'eed Al -Khudri (May Allah be please with him) told Abdur Rahman Bin Sa'sa'h, "I see you liking sheep and the wilderness. So whenever you are with your sheep or in the wilderness and you want to call the athaan for prayer, raise your voice in doing so, for

17 you on the day of Resurrection"

Abu Sa'eed said he heard that from the Messenger of Allah (Peace and Blessings be upon him) {Bukhari }

So it is clear that from the benefits of the traveler calling the athaan is that the place and its surrounding area will testify for him. Furthermore by calling the athaan he would have praised Allah and glorified him.

Question 40: Sometimes a group of us stop at a Masjid on the side of the road to pray while traveling, should we call the athaan?

Answer 40: If the Athaan has already been called at that Masjid then there no need for you to call it. Normally if the prayer time begins the people at those masjids call the athaan and then establish the prayer. So if some travelers arrive at the Masjid after they called the athaan and prayed then there is no need to recall the athaan.

Question 41: I returned from a trip once with some students of knowledge and they mentioned to me that it is sunnah when arriving from a trip to first pray two raka'ahs at the Masjid. Is this applicable for our time or was the purpose simply to inform the family of the traveler of his arrival?

Answer 41: Yes, the sunnah for the one who is traveling when he returns from his journey is to pray two raka'ahs.

Ka'b Bin Malik (May Allah be pleased with him) said that the Prophet (Peace and Blessings be upon him) said, "If anyone returns from a journey let the first thing he does be to pray two raka'ahs" {Al-Bukhari and Muslim} Also when Jabir (May Allah be please with him) returned from a journey and halted his camel to sell to the Prophet (Peace and Blessings be upon him), the Prophet ordered him to go to the Masjid and pray two raka'ahs. {Al-Bukhari and Muslim} These hadiths show that this was well known practice. The problem now is that now in our times the Masjids are closed between prayers and if you return from a journey outside of the time of prayer you will not be able to pray at the Masjid due to it being closed. In this situation you would pray the two raka'ahs at home and Allah knows back.

18 who are traveling Question 42: Is it preferred to fast or abstain from fasting if one is traveling during the month of Ramadan?

Answer 42: It is preferred for the one traveling to fast if there is no hardship and it is preferred to abstain from fasting if there is hardship.

Question 43: A person who normally fasts on Mondays and Thursdays traveled on a Thursday. Is it preferred that he fasts?

Answer 43: Aisha (May Allah be pleased with her) narrated that the Hamza Bin Amro (May Allah be pleased with him) asked the Prophet (Peace and Blessings be upon him): "O Messenger of Allah (Peace and Blessings be upon him) I am a man who routinely fast, should I fast while traveling? So he said, "Fast if you like or do not fast if you like."

This was a supererogatory fast that Hamza used to keep up and he hated to see days go by while not fasting. He would sometimes be required to travel so he asked the Prophet (Peace and Blessings be upon him) about this matter and his left him the option. So I say if the person regularly fasts and there is no hardship then there is no problem if he chooses to fast.

Question 44: A man returned from his travel in Ramadan during Thuhr time. He was not fasting during his journey. Is it permissible for him to continue eating and drinking after he returns since he was not fasting or must he wait until after Maghrib has begun.

Answer 44: He must not eat or drink until sunset since he has become a resident and is no longer traveling. So he must abstain from eating and drinking for the remainder of the day even thought he must make up that day.

If he sleeps with his wife during the remainder of the day he would have to expiate that sin (kafaarah). Whoever has an excuse for not fasting, and that excuse ceases (i.e., the excuse is no longer applicable) during the day time of Ramadan, takes the same ruling.

19 Question 45: How does someone know if he is considered a traveler? Is it determined by distance, by what is traditionally considered travel by the customs of the people or is it determined by time?

Answer 45: I believe the determining factor to be time and this is the opinion of Ibn Taymiyah (May Allah have mercy upon him). He says: "A man might travel a long period of time but only cover a short distance thus deeming him to be a traveler like the one who travels very slowly and cover a short distance. And the opposite could take place also being that a man may travel a long distance in a short time but not be considered a traveler."

Then he made an example, "If a man traveled by horse a distance, that is normally not traveled except that it takes many days, and returned that same day or night, then he would not be considered a traveler."

This is because this absence is not known in Arabic as travel. This opinion is the strongest opinion seeing that nowadays with the aid of cars a man might travel from Al-Qawaeyah to Riyadh in two hours and he sees his relatives in both cities then he returns home that night. So he would not be considered a traveler and his neighbor would not notice or detect his absence. His own family may not even notice because they saw him in the morning then they saw him at night. And they would not greet him when he arrives like that during the reception of a traveler returning from a journey unlike if he was gone for a long time. So if he traveled to a place only fifty kilometers away and resided there two days then he would be considered a traveler. * There are extensive differences among the scholars regarding this issue

Question 46: Some scholars said that traveling is determined by customary understanding, meaning what the people would customary perceive as traveling would be considered traveling and what the people do not customary perceive as traveling would not be considered traveling. What do you think about this opinion?

Answer 46: Yes this is true that traveling is understood by the customary perception of the people, but which people?

There is no doubt that the perception differs from person to person and from society to society. So we must understand it by the customary perception of the Arabs. And the Arabs understood traveling to be the absence of a person for an extensive period of time.

20 Now you see that the common person perceives every person that travels any distance as a traveler, whether for a long time or short. So you find people saying about a person going to Al-Mazaahamiyah from Riyadh (which is only 30 to 40 kilometers away) that so - and-so is traveling to Al-Mazaahamiyah while in reality this is not traveling. So be aware of this.

Question 47: Which is better, to travel by day or by night?

Answer 47: Traveling by night was preferred as a result of large amounts of highway robbers along the road. Thi s is because the highway robbers would rest and sleep by night.

As for our time, it is totally opposite. The Prophet (Peace and Blessings be upon him) said, "Travel during the first part of the night for indeed the earth is obscured/concealed at night." {Abu Dawoud and others}

The Prophet (Peace and Blessings be upon him) said in another hadith, "Support yourself by traveling during the latter part of the day, the first part of the day and the first part of the night. {Al-bukhari}

However I believe it is better in our time to travel during the day. This is on account of that in the morning there is more security, safety, less accidents and the road is clearer because of the sunlight. So he is more alert about his surroundings, and more likely to avert danger, such as if an animal was to quickly dart into his path.

Note that traveling by night in our time differs from the past. In the past they liked to travel by night because of the serenity of the people in particular the highway robbers. Also because they were traveling over empty desert land so they would like to cover the distance as quickly as possible with the least amounts of stops and least exposure to the blazing heat of the sun.

Question 48: It has been narrated that the Prophet (Peace and Blessings be upon him) used to travel on Thursdays at Fajr time. So is it Sunnah for us to travel on Thursday at Fajr?

Answer 48: If it is no difficulty in travel at this time, then it is preferred. However, if your journey covers a short distance, then travel whichever day you like. The journeys of the past used to take a long period of time, sometimes taking anywhere from two weeks up to several months, nothing like our time in which we cover large distances within a day at the most. So there is no need to pick a specific day to travel or wait until early Thursday morning. There is much leniency in that matter Alhamdulilah.

21 prohibited us from traveling to the land of an enemy with the mushaf. Does this prohibition still apply?

Answer 49: This topic has been discussed by the Fuqaha, and in particular ibn Mufleh in his book Aadab ash-Shariah then I saw an explanation by Muhammad Rasheed Rida' who wrote that this prohibition was during the time when there were only a few Mushafs (printings of the Quran) that were copied as a result of being written by hand. They feared that if they traveled with the Mushaf to the land of an enemy, then it could be seized and the enemy might try to alter the Quran by making addition to it or deletions, hence confusing those who are memorizing the Quran.

As for now, the Quran is protected and well preserved. And it has been explained (through tafsir), printed (with an abundant amount of copies) and spread over the world so I see no reason for anyone to travel without a mushaf in this time during our current situation. And if you think about it, you find tens of thousands of copies of the Quran in non-Muslim lands and it is well distributed in their lands along with the interpretations into their languages. So the prohibition was due to a specific reason that no longer exists today.

Question 50: A woman resides in Riyadh and she has five adult daughters and one son that lives in Taif (located about sixty miles southeast of Mecca). She wants to travel along with her daughters from Riyadh to Taif with her male driver. Is this permissible keeping in mind that the women all are traveling without a mahram (a male relative whom a woman may never marry)?

Answer 50: Ideally she should not travel except accompanied by a mahram like if her son in Taif was to personally drive them down to Taif himself. However if this lady and her daughters can not arrange for one of their mahrams to drive the m and it is a must, (necessity to travel) then she may travel with the driver with the condition that they believe no immoral conduct will take place between them and the male driver. So if they were in dire need to travel and they could not find a mahram to accompany them then we hope in this scenario it is would be allowed.