The Prayer Of A Travelling Person (Musafir)

Islam is a religion full of mercy, and because of the hardships and inconveniences which a person usually undergoes during travels, Allah (subhanahu wa ta’ala) has made certain concessions to the traveler. One of these concessions is that traveler may shorten some of the obligatory prayers. Allah says in the Holy Qur’an: “When you travel through the earth there is no blame on you if you shorten your prayers” (Qur’an 4:101).

Because of this grant from Allah (subhanahu wa ta’ala), it is an established practice that a traveling Muslim may shorten the four (4) rakaats obligatory prayers into two rakaats only. Thus, the Dhuhr, Asr and lsha prayers may each be shortened into two rakaats. However, the Maghrib and the Fajr prayers cannot be shortened and are to be performed in full.

It is also an established practice that the traveler may combine some of the obligatory prayers. Thus, the Dhuhr prayer may be delayed until the time of the Asr prayer when both will be performed; or, the Asr prayer may be brought forward to the time of the Dhuhr prayer when both will be performed. Likewise, the Isha prayer may be brought forward to the time of Maghrib prayer; or, the Maghrib prayer may be delayed until the time of Isha prayer. The Fajr prayer can neither be brought forward or delayed and has to be performed at its prescribed time.