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WHO IS A musafir?

1. The person who sets out with the intention of eventually traveling three manzils (approx. 77 km) * is regarded as a musafir in the Sharī‛ah.
2. The moment he comes out of the boundaries of his town or city he becomes a musafir. Within the boundaries of his town or city, he will not be a musafir.

If the airport is within the boundaries of the city (in the sense that the buildings of the city are linked to it without a considerable break in between) it will fall under the rule of the city and the person will not be considered a musafir when he reaches it. If it is outside the boundaries, then upon reaching it, the person will be regarded as a musafir.

PRINCIPLE: A person will not become a musafir until he firmly intends to travel 77 km from the place he is in.

Thus a person who travels from place to place, intending to travel less than 77km each time, will not become a musafir even if he travels the entire world in this way!

THE (QASR) salah OF A musafir

1. When a person qualifies as a musafir according to the Sharī‛ah he is required to offer two rak‛ahs for the Fard of Zuhr, ‛Asr and ‛Ishā salah. The other salahs remain as normal.
2. More than two rak‛ahs should not be offered for the Fard of Zuhr, ‛Asr and ‛Ishā salah. If a person mistakenly offered four raka‛āt for these salahs, and he had sat down for Tashahhud (al-Tahiyyāt) in the second rak‛ah, then the first two rak‛ahs will be regarded as Fard and the other two rak‛ahs as nafl.
3. In the above case he will have to make sajdah al-sahw. If he did not make sajdah al-sahw then he must repeat the salah if its time still remains.
4. If he did not sit in the second rak‛ah then all four raka‛āt will become nafl and he will have to repeat his Fard salah.

BECOMING A MUQIM (RESIDENT)

1. A person will remain a musafir and will continue offering two rak‛ahs for the four-raka‛āt salahs until he makes the definite intention of staying at a place for fifteen days or more.
2. The place where he makes this intention is known as his Watan al-Iqāmah. He must offer four raka‛āt salah here.
3. If he makes the intention of staying for 15 days whilst in salah then he must offer this very salah as a MUQIM i.e. 4 raka‛āt.

   PRINCIPLE: A musafir will not become a MUQIM until he firmly intends to stay at a place for a period of fifteen days from the time he makes this intention.

   Based on the above principle consider the following two cases:

   • A person stops at a place intending to stay for two or three days. Due to circumstances every day he makes the intention of leaving the following day but he still does not leave. In this way fifteen days, twenty days, a month or even more passes, but he did not, at any point, make the firm intention of staying there for fifteen days. In this case he will remain a musafir irrespective of how many days he stays at that place.
   • A person intends to stay at a place for ten days but after seven days he decides to extend his stay by an additional ten days (which will make his total stay twenty days.) In this case he will remain a musafir. This is because after he had decided to stay ten more days there were thirteen days of his total stay remaining. Hence at no point did he make the intention to stay for fifteen days. In other words, fifteen days is considered from the time he changed his intention and not from the beginning of his stay.
4. The intention of staying fifteen days has to be for staying the full fifteen days at one place. If he makes an intention of staying for 15 days at two different places, and the distance between the two places is such that the adhān of one place cannot be heard at the other, then he will be a musafir in both those places.
   • E.G. If a person intends staying for 10 days in Makkah and 5 days in Minā he will be a musafir both in Makkah and Minā. Thus a Hāji who arrives in Makkah less than fifteen full days before the morning of the 8th of Dhū al-Hijjah will be a musafir. If he arrives in Makkah fifteen days or more before the 8th then he will be a MUQIM both in Makkah and Minā.
5. If in the above case (i.e. Law 4) he intends spending all the fifteen nights at one place then he will be a MUQIM in that place.
6. If both places are so close that each other’s adhān can be heard, then both places will be regarded as one place. He will become a MUQIM in both places by intending to stay there for 15 days.
7. After becoming a MUQIM (by firmly intending to stay at a place for fifteen days) if he changes his intention and decides to leave before fifteen days then he will not become a musafir.

* When he leaves with the intention of eventually travelling to another place that is at a distance of 77 kilometers or more then only will he become a musafir. If that place is less than 77 kilometers away, he will not become a musafir.
Source: sunnipath.com