Ash-Shaykh Muhammad bin Saalih al-Uthaymeen, rahimahullah, was asked the following question,
ما حكم جمع الصلاة بنية السفر قبل الخروج من البنيان؟
Question:
What is the ruling on combining the salaah due to the intention of travelling before departing from the city?
الجمع بين الصلاتين للمسافر سنة إذا كان يسير في البر، وجائز إذا كان نازلاً في البر، أما قبل أن يسافر من بلده فإنه لا يحل له أن يجمع؛ لأن سبب جمعه هو السفر ولم يبدأ به الآن، فلا يجوز أن يجمع إلا إذا خرج من البلد، كما أنه لا يجوز أن يقصر، فلو قال: إني عازم على السفر أصلي الرباعية ركعتين وأخرج؟ قلنا: لا يجوز.
Answer:
Combining the two prayers for a traveller is a sunnah if he is travelling by land and it is (also) permissible (to combine the prayers) if he stopped off somewhere when travelling by land. As for before he travels from his town, then it is not permissible for him to combine the prayers since the (main) purpose of him combining the prayers is for the (excuse) of travelling while he hasn’t begun travelling yet. Therefore, it is not permissible for him to combine the prayers except when he departs from his town. Similarly, as it is not permissible for him to shorten his prayer (before travelling), so if he were to say, “I made a decision to travel, I’ll pray the four rak’ahs prayer in two rak’ahs then I will make my departure,” we would reply by saying “it is not permissible.”
Translated by
AbdulFattaah bin Uthman
Abu Fajr
