Hadith 344
اُردوEn
وعن أنس رضي الله عنه قال : كان رسول الله صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم إذا خرج مسيرة ثلاثة أميال أو فراسخ صلى ركعتين. رواه مسلم.
Narrated Anas (RA): When Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) went out on a journey of three miles or three Farasikh, he (ﷺ) used to pray two Rak'at. [Reported by Muslim]. Farasikh (plural of Farsakh) is Persian unit of distance. Farsakh is equal to about three miles.
Explanation & Benefits
Shaykh Safi ur-Rahman Mubarakpuri
Takhrij:
«أخرجه مسلم، صلاة المسافرين، باب صلاة المسافرين، حديث:691.»©Explanation:
➊ The clarification of the words "mile" (میل) and "farsakh" (فرسخ) mentioned in the hadith has already been given above, explaining what is meant by them, and a brief mention has also been made regarding how much distance is required for the shortening of prayer (qasr).
Regarding this, Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah rahimahullah and his distinguished student Hafiz Ibn Qayyim rahimahullah are of the opinion that there is no fixed or specified distance for the shortening of prayer (qasr).
Permission has been granted for it in the case of absolute travel (safar).
And whenever someone considers a certain distance to be a journey, he should perform the shortened prayer (qasr) there.
➋ Undoubtedly, in the Noble Qur'an, the mention of shortening (qasr) is linked absolutely to travel (safar), just as for ablution with earth (tayammum) during travel, no specific distance is determined.
From this hadith, it is established that a journey of three miles is also considered a legal (shar‘i) journey, but since the hadith mentions three miles or three farsakh, the scholars have taken a precautionary approach by considering three farsakh to be intended here.
And three farsakh equals nine miles, which according to the modern system amounts to 23 or 24 kilometers; therefore, the shortened prayer (qasr) will be performed at this mentioned distance.
➌ The Zahiris (literalists) have even permitted the shortening of prayer (qasr) for a distance of up to three miles, and some have even said that it is permissible at a distance of one mile, but they have no strong rational or textual evidence for this.
And some have set the distance at 36 miles, some at 48 miles, and some at 52 miles.
In any case, all of these are based on analogical reasoning (qiyas); there is no authentic hadith in support of any of them.
As for the narration regarding four barid (that shortening is not permissible for a distance less than four barid, i.e., forty-eight miles), this hadith is not marfu‘ (attributed to the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) but rather mawquf (attributed to a Companion), and moreover, one of its narrators, ‘Abd al-Wahhab ibn Mujahid ibn Jubayr al-Makki, has been declared unreliable; in fact, Imam Thawri rahimahullah has called him a liar, so this is not worthy of being used as evidence.
Furthermore, our esteemed researcher has also declared it to be severely weak.
«أخرجه مسلم، صلاة المسافرين، باب صلاة المسافرين، حديث:691.»©Explanation:
➊ The clarification of the words "mile" (میل) and "farsakh" (فرسخ) mentioned in the hadith has already been given above, explaining what is meant by them, and a brief mention has also been made regarding how much distance is required for the shortening of prayer (qasr).
Regarding this, Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah rahimahullah and his distinguished student Hafiz Ibn Qayyim rahimahullah are of the opinion that there is no fixed or specified distance for the shortening of prayer (qasr).
Permission has been granted for it in the case of absolute travel (safar).
And whenever someone considers a certain distance to be a journey, he should perform the shortened prayer (qasr) there.
➋ Undoubtedly, in the Noble Qur'an, the mention of shortening (qasr) is linked absolutely to travel (safar), just as for ablution with earth (tayammum) during travel, no specific distance is determined.
From this hadith, it is established that a journey of three miles is also considered a legal (shar‘i) journey, but since the hadith mentions three miles or three farsakh, the scholars have taken a precautionary approach by considering three farsakh to be intended here.
And three farsakh equals nine miles, which according to the modern system amounts to 23 or 24 kilometers; therefore, the shortened prayer (qasr) will be performed at this mentioned distance.
➌ The Zahiris (literalists) have even permitted the shortening of prayer (qasr) for a distance of up to three miles, and some have even said that it is permissible at a distance of one mile, but they have no strong rational or textual evidence for this.
And some have set the distance at 36 miles, some at 48 miles, and some at 52 miles.
In any case, all of these are based on analogical reasoning (qiyas); there is no authentic hadith in support of any of them.
As for the narration regarding four barid (that shortening is not permissible for a distance less than four barid, i.e., forty-eight miles), this hadith is not marfu‘ (attributed to the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) but rather mawquf (attributed to a Companion), and moreover, one of its narrators, ‘Abd al-Wahhab ibn Mujahid ibn Jubayr al-Makki, has been declared unreliable; in fact, Imam Thawri rahimahullah has called him a liar, so this is not worthy of being used as evidence.
Furthermore, our esteemed researcher has also declared it to be severely weak.
Source: Bulugh al-Maram: Commentary by Safiur Rahman Mubarakpuri, Page: 344
