Religious ruling of one who cannot leave work to perform prayer or pray during it
12-1-2014 | IslamWeb
Question:
My husband is a naval engineer and, due to the nature of his work, he is living a perpetual travel lifestyle. He is continually traveling from port to port throughout the year. The least duration of his journeys is twenty days. What is the ruling with regards to prayers? Should he perform prayers normally or shorten them given that he is considered a traveler? Or, should he offer prayers normally, given that he is in a permanent state of traveling due to the nature of his work and not a temporary situation or an emergency? What should he do when the time of prayer is due during his working hours and he cannot leave the engines and go to pray, given that there is no one to cover for him?
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, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and messenger.
This man is considered a traveler as long as he is out at sea on a journey of which the distance entails shortening the prayer. A traveler who is going to travel this distance or more is allowed to avail himself of the concessions granted to travelers as shared by most jurists, even if he spends most of his life travelling.
When the time of prayer is due during one's working hours and he cannot leave work to perform prayer or do so while working, knowing that he will finish his work before the time of the next prayer is due and will have enough time to perform the prayer, then he can delay the prayer in such a case, and Allaah Knows best. If the work was continuous and he can never, under any circumstances, leave it and have a break to perform the prayer, then he should perform prayer while working in whatever way he can. Allaah The Exalted Says (what means): {So fear Allaah as much as you are able…}[Quran 64:16]
It is impermissible for him to abandon the prayer or delay it until the time of the next prayer is due. Allaah The Exalted Says (what means): {Indeed, prayer has been decreed upon the believers a decree of specified times.}[Quran 4:103]
Even the Mujaahid on the battlefield is not exempted from performing prayers while fighting and death is at every corner. Hence, other Muslims are not exempted from performing prayer with greater reason.
If the working hours of your husband start after the time of Thuhr or Maghrib and he knows that he will not finish his work except at dawn, he can combine Thuhr and ‘Asr together in advance and perform them at the time of Thuhr, and he can combine Maghrib and ‘Ishaa' together in advance at the time of Maghrib.