✿ The Prayer of a Traveler Behind a Resident and a Resident Behind a Traveler ✿
✍ Written by: Imran Ayub Lahori
❀ The Prayer of a Traveler Behind a Resident and a Resident Behind a Traveler
This is permissible and valid, and the evidences for this are as follows:
➊ If a traveler prays behind a resident, he will perform the complete prayer. But if he prays alone, he will shorten the prayer.
As narrated from ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿAbbās (رضي الله عنهما), when he was asked:
“What is the condition of a traveler that when he prays alone, he performs two rakʿāt, and when he follows a resident Imam, he performs four rakʿāt?”
He replied:
تلك السنة
“This is the Sunnah.”
[Aḥmad: 216/1, Bayhaqī: 98/2]
➋ Narrated from ʿImrān ibn Ḥuṣayn (رضي الله عنه):
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ would always pray two rakʿāt during travel until he returned home. Except for Maghrib, he used to pray two rakʿāt and then say:
يا أهل مكة قوموا فصلوا ركعتين أخريين فإنا قوم سفر
“O people of Makkah! Stand up and complete the other two rakʿāt, for indeed we are travelers.”
[Ḍaʿīf: Ḍaʿīf Abū Dāwūd: 264, Kitāb al-Ṣalāh: Bāb Matā Yutim al-Musāfir, al-Mishkāt: 1342, Ḍaʿīf al-Jāmiʿ: 6380, Abū Dāwūd: 1229, al-Tirmidhī: 545, Aḥmad: 430/4, Ibn Khuzaymah: 70/3]
➌ Narrated from ʿUmar (رضي الله عنه):
When the Prophet ﷺ came to Makkah, he led the prayer in two rakʿāt and said:
يا أهل مكة أتموا صلاتكم فإنا قوم سفر
“O people of Makkah! Complete your prayer, for indeed we are travelers.”
[Muwaṭṭaʾ: 149/1, Bayhaqī: 126/2]
✔ Summary:
- A traveler must pray full prayer behind a resident Imam, following the Imam’s condition.
- A resident may pray behind a traveler, and the resident completes their own prayer.
- This aligns with the Sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ and the practice of the Companions.
