Al Kafi li al-Fatawi

Question:

Assalamualaikum wbt,

As we all know, the ruling of jama’ and qasar for a traveler is for a duration of three days; not including the days of travel (entering and leaving). What is meant by the days of entering and leaving in the ruling of jama’ and qasar? Hope ustaz can give an explanation regarding this.

Answer:

Waalaikumussalam wrt wbt,

Alhamdulillah, praise and thanks to Allah for the countless blessings He has blessed us all with. Blessings and salutations to the Prophet Muhammad PBUH, his wives, his family, companions and all those that follow his teachings to the day of judgement.

In the book al-Fiqh al-Manhaji (1/186) it is stated that one of the valid conditions of jama’ and qasar for a traveller is:

“Do not have the intention to stay at the destination for four days except the day he arrives and the day he leaves.”

This is according to a hadith from al-‘Ala’ bin al-Hadrami where the Prophet PBUH said:

يُقِيمُ الْمُهَاجِرُ بِمَكَّةَ بَعْدَ قَضَاءِ نُسُكِهِ ثَلَاثًا

“The Muhijir should stay at Mecca after performing the rituals (of Hajj) but for three (days) only.”

Sahih Muslim (1352)

Some may be confused; what is meant by the day a person enters and the day he leaves? Do these days encompass the whole 24 hours of the first and final day or otherwise? In answering this issue, we cite the words of Imam al-Nawawi:

وَلَا يُحْسَبُ مِنْهَا يَوْمَا دُخُولِهِ وَخُرُوجِهِ عَلَى الصَّحِيحِ

“It is not included in the four days the two daytime of him entering and leaving according to the sahih opinion.” Refer Minhaj al-Tolibin (pg. 44)

In his syarah of the book Hasyiah al-Syirwani `ala Tuhfah al-Muhtaj (2/377), it is stated:

(وَلَا يُحْسَبُ مِنْهَا أَيْ الْأَرْبَعَةِ يَوْمَا دُخُولِهِ إلَخْ) أَيْ وَتُحْسَبُ اللَّيْلَةُ الَّتِي تَلِي يَوْمَ الدُّخُولِ وَكَذَا الْيَوْمُ الَّذِي يَلِي لَيْلَةَ الدُّخُولِ

[(And it is not included from the four days two daytimes of him entering) [1] which means only the night of the day he enters is calculated. The same for the daytime of the night he enters][2]

(قَوْلُهُ: أَوْ لَيْلَتَا دُخُولِهِ إلَخْ) أَيْ أَوْ يَوْمُ دُخُولِهِ وَلَيْلَةُ خُرُوجِهِ أَوْ بِالْعَكْسِ

“[(or the two nights when he enters) which means the day and night of when he enters is not calculated or the same if the situation is of the opposite].”

According to the above discussion, there is a difference regarding the usage of the term day which means 24 hours and the “day” used in the context of the ruling of jama’ and qasar. “Day” used in the ruling means the daytime and night of when a traveller arrives or leaves the destination. For example, if a person arrives on Monday at day time, then he has to set his intention that he will return home or leave and travel to another faraway place during the day on Friday. If he returns on Saturday, then his jama’ and qasar prayer is invalid because it does not fulfil the valid conditions.

Furthermore, it should be understood that the change of days in Islam is after Maghrib (sunset) and not at 12 midnight. Among the wisdoms of the facilitation given for the day of arrival and return is so that surely, he would be busy with the matters of his travel (such as transport, accommodation and the preparation for his return) on the daytime of these two days. Refer Mughni al-Muhtaj (1/519) by Imam al-Khatib al-Syarbini.

We include a table for a better understanding:

Table 1: If a traveller arrives during the day. For example, if Ali arrives in Ipoh (the long-distance travel destination) from Kuala Lumpur (place where he starts his travel) on Monday at 11.00 am. Then he has to set his intention to return to the place he begins his travel or travel to another place during the daytime of Friday. If he intends to leave on Friday night, then it is impermissible for him to perform jama’ and qasar prayer throughout his stay at Ipoh. While it is not an issue to perform jama’ and qasar prayer during the day he is travelling.

Table 2: If a traveller arrives at night. For example, if Ali arrives in Ipoh (the long-distance travel destination) from Kuala Lumpur (place where he starts his travel) on Monday at 11.00 pm. Then he has to set his intention to return to the place he begins his travel or travel to another place on Thursday night. If he intends to leave during the Friday daytime, then it is impermissible for him to perform jama’ and qasar prayer throughout his stay at Ipoh. While it is not an issue to perform jama’ and qasar prayer during the day he is travelling.

The above opinion is the final and sahih opinion in madhhab al-Syafie. This is our opinion and it will be easier to calculate. There is another opinion in other madhhabs such as the opinion stated by Imam al-Khatib al-Syirbini: “Imam al-Subki (a Syafi’ite scholar) chose the opinion of madhhab Imam Ahmad where the facilitation (to perform qasar during one’s travel) is not related to the number of days, consequently, it is related to the number of prayers. Thus, a traveller can take this facilitation with the total of 21 times of obligatory prayers. The reason is this has been done by the Prophet PBUH when he was travelling to the area of al-Abtoh. According to a sahih opinion, it is a total of 23 times of prayer,” Refer Mughni al-Muhtaj (1/520)

Table 3: If a traveller follows the opinion of Imam al-Subki. For example, if Ali arrives in Ipoh (the long-distance travel destination) from Kuala Lumpur (place where he starts his travel) on Monday at 11.00 am. It is permissible for him to perform jama’ and qasar starting from Zuhr prayer on Monday until the Zuhr prayer on Friday.

To conclude, a traveller should set his intention to stay for only three days at the destination of his travels to make it permissible for him to get the facilitation of jama’ and qasar. This does not include the day time or night of when he arrives and return. If all the says are summed up it can be up to a total of five days.

Hopefully, this explanation will give a good understanding to the reader.

Endnotes:

[1] These are the words of Imam Ibn Hajar al-Haitami in Tuhfah al-Muhtaj, while the explanation hasyiah is given by Syeikh Abdul Hamid al-Syirwani

[2] This is as stated in the fatwa issued by Syeikh Ali Syubramallisi.