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Prayer of the traveler within his own country

Question

1) When a person is taking a weekend trip that is over 200km away from home (but is in the same province and in the same country) can they shorten their prayers?
2) And when a person shortens their prayer do they still pray the Sunnah?
3) And also I'm wondering about other prayers like the Dhuhaa and Witr? Can those still be prayed by the traveler?

Answer

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger. We ask Allaah to exalt his mention as well as that of his family and all his companions.

Whoever travels for a distance of 83 km or more from the country where he lives to his target destination in a one-way trip, it is permissible for him to combine and shorten the prayers even if his final destination is in the same province or country where he lives.

As regards supererogatory prayers [either those performed before or after obligatory prayers] and Witr and Dhuhaa prayers and the like, the majority of scholars may  Allaah  have  mercy  upon  them are of the view that it is desirable for a travelling person to perform them without making a difference between the regularly performed supererogatory prayers and other general optional prayers. Imaam An-Nawawi may  Allaah  have  mercy  upon  him said: 'The scholars of our school may  Allaah  have  mercy  upon  them, [Shaafi’ee school] said: 'It is desirable to perform supererogatory prayers when travelling, be it those performed before or after the obligatory prayers or other general optional prayers; this is the opinion of our school and the view of Al-Qaasim Ibn Muhammad, ‘Urwah Ibn Az-Zubayr, Abu Bakr Ibn ‘Abdur-Rahmaan, Maalik and the majority of scholars may  Allaah  have  mercy  upon  them.'

Allaah Knows best.

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