Question

why cannot we shorten the fajr and maghrib prayers? ​

Answer 1

Answer:

living in the uk, usa, canada, etc, muslims are often faced with questions as to what constitutes a journey that entails shortening and combining prayers, and allows the obligatory fast to be broken. sometimes, these questions arise because towns and cities have expanded such that there is no longer any countryside or open land between towns. furthermore, many muslims are unsure about the distance they must travel before they are considered travellers according to the sharee’ah. these rulings also affect women since they are required by the sharee’ah to travel along with a male chaperone (mahram) on their journeys. so let us begin by offering a summary of the rulings, followed by a more detailed discussion:

1. a journey is that wherein one intends to travel 80 kilometres (km) or more from their hometown. it makes no difference whether this travelling is by walking, cycling, riding, driving, aeroplane, or ship. it does not matter whether it is difficult or easy. (ibn bāz, al-fawzān)