LAGOS LIFE, MUSLIM LIVING. Vol. 2 I boarded a Lagos bound bus after praying Dhur at the gate of Africa’s most beautiful campus. My Mathematics assured me that the bus would have entered Lagos before 6pm, which means I would have time to pray ‘Asr. However, I forgot the external factors. Firstly, the bus did not move until past 3pm. Then, it developed a mechanical fault before Mowe or so; I saw it as an opportunity to pray ‘Asr, so I got down, bought pure water, performed ablution but there was no mosque in the vicinity. After a brief period, the driver announced he is ready to continue the journey. Now, the driving switched to snail mode, another factor I never considered. We arrived at Berger minutes past 6pm and the sun was still high in the sky, so I took a risk of terminating the bus trip at Oshodi since it is not far from Berger in the pure mathematical sense. That was the problem; I should have employed Mathematical modeling with special consideration for traffic congestion between Ojota and Oshodi. I got down from the bus while the sun was already descending and I had to hurry to the Mosque on the other side of the road running as if pressed to use the toilet. Pre-Fashola, you could have crossed easily but we had to climb the pedestrian bridge though the crossings have resumed as at last check but no mention my name if KAI catch you o. I ve ablution, so I just entered the mosque and prayed ‘Asr. After the two rakats (I am always in traveller mode in Lagos), I looked up and the sun was still descending, Alhamdulillaah!!! Missing ‘Asr can only be compared to a person losing all his possessions- his family, his wealth and properties; what a great loss! After this near disaster, I had to sit down and think; what could I have done differently? Could I have prayed Asr before leaving Ife? The eminent jurist, Shaykh Muhammad Saalih al-‘Uthaimeen said: ‘The rulings on travelling begin when the traveller leaves his home and passes beyond the developed areas of his village or city. It is not permissible for a traveller to join two prayers until he has left the town, unless he fears that it will not be easy to offer the second prayer whilst travelling. (Majmoo’ Fataawa Ibn ‘Uthaimeen, 15/346). It must be noted that the person is not combining the Prayers because he is already a traveller but to remove hardship; hence, he cannot shorten the Prayers. Shaykh Saalih al-Fawzaan said: If the time for Zuhr begins and you have not yet started your journey, then it is obligatory for you to pray Zuhr in full without shortening it. With regard to ‘Asr, if your journey will end at the time of ‘Asr, then you should pray ‘Asr in full at the proper time when you arrive. But if the journey will last from Zuhr until after the sun has set, and the time for ‘Asr will end whilst you are still travelling, and you will not be able to stop because you say that the driver of the car does not agree to stop, then there is no reason why you should not join the prayers in this case, because this is in excuse which makes it permissible to join the prayers. But they must be offered in full. If you pray ‘Asr with Zuhr, joining them at the time of the earlier prayer when you are still in your house and you intend to travel after that, then you should pray Zuhr and ‘Asr in full, with four rakahs each, and there is nothing wrong with joining them because it is permissible to join them in this case. But the time for shortening them has not yet begun, because shortening them is only permissible after leaving the developed areas of your place of residence. (Al-Muntaha min Fataawa al-Shaykh al-Fawzaan , 3/62) What if I left around 12noon, can I pray both Asr and Dhur? No, I can’t because it is not time for Dhur. We can only combine Dhur and ‘Asr at the time of any of the two, not before or after their periods. Ditto for Maghrib and Isha. Perhaps, I prayed ‘Asr with Zuhr before leaving, but got to my destination with enough time to pray ‘Asr, do I need to repeat my Asr? Shaykh Muhammad Saalih al-Munajjid said: He does not have to pray ‘Asr a second time, because when he combined ‘Asr with Zuhr, he was in a state when doing so is permitted, and he did not know for sure when he combined the two prayers that he would reach his destination before ‘Asr. Even if he did know for sure when he combined ‘Asr with Zuhr that he would reach his destination before ‘Asr, it is still permissible for him to join the two prayers, as was stated in a fatwa by many of the scholars. This scenario resembles another, which is when a man cannot find water, so he prays with tayammum (‘dry ablution’ performed with sand or earth), then he finds water before the time for that prayer is over: he does not have to repeat the prayer. In the case of the traveller, the time of Zuhr is in fact the time of Zuhr and ‘Asr, and the time of ‘Asr is the time of ‘Asr and Zuhr. And Allaah knows best. Why the hassle? Why can’t you just relax and combine the ‘Asr with Maghrib? This is wide off the mark. It is not permissible to delay ‘Asr till the time of Maghrib; such person would have succeeded in wasting his time. It is only permissible to combine Zuhr and ‘Asr only, at the time of either of them, before the sun starts to set, and to combine Maghrib and ‘Ishaa’ at the time of either of them, before the Islamic midnight. Lastly, Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah said: With regard to joining prayers, the reason for it is if there is a need or an excuse. So if a person needs to do so, he may join prayers whilst travelling, whether he is travelling a long distance or a short one, and he may join prayers because of rain etc., or because of sickness etc., or for any other reason, because the point is to spare the Muslims any difficulty or hardship. (Majmoo’ al-Fataawa , 22/293) He also said: Offering each prayer at its proper time is better, if there is no need to join prayers. Usually when the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) was travelling, he would offer prayers at the proper times, and he only joined prayers on a few occasions. (Majmoo’ al-Fataawa , 24/19) Perfect knowledge belongs to Allaah alone.
Posted on: Mon, 12 May 2014 05:48:00 +0000
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