Shortening the Prayer in a City where One Has Relatives or House

25-8-2022 | IslamWeb

Question:

assalamualaikum, i am moving form my home town to another city for 2 weeks but in that city we also bought a house and one of my family member also live there (not permanant) so do i have to perform qasar namaz in that city or perfom same as in my town?jazakallah

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Answer:

All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger.

If you are really asking about the obligation of shortening the Prayer as understood from your statement “Shall I shorten the Prayer?”, then shortening the Prayer is not obligatory on travelers; rather, it is recommended.

However, if you are asking about the permissibility of shortening the Prayer in that city where you have a house and relatives, the answer is that it is impermissible for you to shorten the Prayer as long as you know from the very beginning that you would stay therein for two weeks. That is because the ruling on traveling is not applicable on the person as long as he has the intention to stay for four days or more; this is actually the opinion held by the Maalik and Ash-Shaaf’i Schools of jurisprudence.

You stated that you would stay for two weeks in that city, which means that according to all these opinions, you are no longer considered a traveler, and you are not permitted to benefit from the concessions of travelers, including shortening of Prayers.

As for the fact that you have relatives or a house in that city, then this is not a valid legal excuse to prevent you from benefitting from the concessions of travelling as long as you do not intend to stay therein for four days or more.

Allah knows best.