Source: Extracted from Hudiyyat al-Muslimīn – Namāz ke Aham Masāʾil maʿ Maqmal Namāz al-Nabawiyyah ﷺ by Shaykh Zubair ʿAlī Zai رحمه الله
From Ibn ʿAbbās (رضي الله عنهما):
"The Prophet ﷺ stayed for nineteen (19) days and used to shorten the prayer. So if we stayed for nineteen days during travel, we shortened the prayer; and if we stayed longer than that, we completed it."
[Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī: 1/147, Ḥadīth 1080]
① This ḥadīth proves that a traveler intending to stay 19 days will shorten the prayer (qaṣr). If intending to stay longer, he will pray the full prayer.
② In Sunan al-Tirmidhī (1/122, Ḥadīth 548), without chain, it is reported that Ibn ʿUmar (رضي الله عنهما) said:
"A traveler who intends to stay for fifteen days will pray full."
③ In Kitāb al-Āthār by Muḥammad bin al-Ḥasan al-Shaybānī, there is a narration with the chain:
"Akhbaranā Abū Ḥanīfah, from Ḥammād, who said: Ḥaddathanā Mūsā bin Muslim, from Mujāhid, from ʿAbdullāh bin ʿUmar…" (p. 201, Ḥadīth 188).
④ Those who limit the travel duration to three days or less have no explicit and authentic evidence. Comparing with generalities in opposition to a clear text is a weak approach. Wallāhu Aʿlam
Ḥadīth Evidence
From Ibn ʿAbbās (رضي الله عنهما):
"The Prophet ﷺ stayed for nineteen (19) days and used to shorten the prayer. So if we stayed for nineteen days during travel, we shortened the prayer; and if we stayed longer than that, we completed it."
[Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī: 1/147, Ḥadīth 1080]
Benefits and Rulings
① This ḥadīth proves that a traveler intending to stay 19 days will shorten the prayer (qaṣr). If intending to stay longer, he will pray the full prayer.
② In Sunan al-Tirmidhī (1/122, Ḥadīth 548), without chain, it is reported that Ibn ʿUmar (رضي الله عنهما) said:
"A traveler who intends to stay for fifteen days will pray full."
- This report is found with a ṣaḥīḥ chain in Muṣannaf ʿAbd al-Razzāq (2/533, Ḥadīth 4343) and Muṣannaf Ibn Abī Shaybah (2/455, Ḥadīth 8217).
③ In Kitāb al-Āthār by Muḥammad bin al-Ḥasan al-Shaybānī, there is a narration with the chain:
"Akhbaranā Abū Ḥanīfah, from Ḥammād, who said: Ḥaddathanā Mūsā bin Muslim, from Mujāhid, from ʿAbdullāh bin ʿUmar…" (p. 201, Ḥadīth 188).
- This chain is extremely unreliable, even fabricated, because:
- Muḥammad bin al-Ḥasan is severely criticized by the ḥadīth scholars; Imām Ibn Maʿīn called him "Jahmī liar".
[Lisān al-Mīzān: 5/139; al-Ḍuʿafāʾ by al-ʿUqaylī: 4/55, no. 1612, with ṣaḥīḥ isnād] - Ḥammād bin Abī Sulaymān is mukhtaḍil (had a mixing in memory). There is no proof that Imām Abū Ḥanīfah heard from him before his memory changed.
- Muḥammad bin al-Ḥasan is severely criticized by the ḥadīth scholars; Imām Ibn Maʿīn called him "Jahmī liar".
④ Those who limit the travel duration to three days or less have no explicit and authentic evidence. Comparing with generalities in opposition to a clear text is a weak approach. Wallāhu Aʿlam
