QUESTION:

Not sure if I’m a musafir? I live in England and that is my permanent home…Going Bangladesh for 4 weeks , however traveling on plane. Stopping in Dubai for 6 hours. Then to Bangladesh. So how will I know what salah/namaz to pray on board? How many rakats? And method, standing or sitting?

Whilst I’m in Bangladesh, I’m constantly traveling (which exceeds the Shariah travel limit for safar), so am I a musafir? Because I got family in different places and I got no fixed period of how long I’ll stay wherever I go?

ANSWER:

In the name of Allāh, Most Compassionate, Most Merciful,

You will carry on doing qaŝr (performing 2 rakâāts for all 4 rakâāt fardh ŝalāh) until you reach Bangladesh. Furthermore, even in Bangladesh, you will carry on doing qaŝr until at any place you decide to stay for more than 14 days, in which case you will not do qaŝr, until you start travelling once again and the travel limit exceeds 90 km.

Bear in mind that in the scenarios where you will do qaŝr, you will only do it, if you perform ŝalāh individually, you become the imām, or you perform ŝalāh behind a musāfir imām. Whereas, if you perform ŝalāh behind a non- musāfir imam, you will not do qaŝr, but rather perform the complete ŝalāh.

With regards to your question on “how will you know what ŝalāh to perform on flight”, it is clear that you will know the timings of departure and arrival beforehand, hence accordingly you can plan where and when you will perform ŝalāh. Furthermore, if you happen to perform any ŝalāh during your flight you can also access the internet to see what ŝalāh you will be performing according to the region your flight is in at the time. But like mentioned before, this can also be planned before travelling, and planning it beforehand will be the best and probably most convenient option.

Whilst performing ŝalāh during a flight, one will have to perform it standing, as ‘standing (qiyām)’ is fardh in ŝalāh. For this, you should kindly ask one of the flight attendants to allow you to perform ŝalāh at an ideal place, such as at the front of the plane or the back. Do explain to them ‘with wisdom’ that this is a religious obligation and you have to do it. In this case, use a qiblah compass to ascertain the direction of the qiblah. However, if they do not grant you permission, then you should perform ŝalāh in your seat, wherever your seat maybe, doing gestures. In this case, you should repeat the ŝalāh once you land at your destination.

And Allāh, the Almighty knows best,