The prayer of a traveller: shortening it (qasr)

You are a traveller if you intend to travel a distance that would take three days at a normal walking or riding pace (not too fast, not too slow), counting each day from morning to noon. If you reach that distance faster using something like a car or a train, you are still a traveller.

A person who intends to travel a distance of three days, measured at a moderate pace (walking, or riding an average-paced camel, neither too fast nor too slow), is a traveller (musafir). The three-day distance means travelling from morning to noon, not necessarily morning to evening. Covering this same distance faster by a quicker means of transport, such as a horse or a train, still counts as travel.

It is always permissible for a resident to follow a travelling imam, whether in a fard or a qada prayer. When the travelling imam completes two rak'ahs and gives salam, the resident follower stands and completes the remaining rak'ahs alone, reciting silently for the time it would take to recite aloud.

A traveller may also follow a resident imam. In that case the traveller does not perform qasr, but completes the full prayer along with the imam, provided this is within the time of that prayer, not after its time has passed.

One who intends a journey of three days from their city, whether from their original watan (home) or a place of residence, is a musāfir. The three-day measure is taken at a moderate pace (sayr wasaṭ): walking, or a camel travelling at an average rate, neither hastened nor slowed. Each day of the three is reckoned from morning to noon, not morning to evening. Where the same distance, one that could not be covered in under three days at that moderate pace, is covered in less time by a faster means (horse, train, and the like), musāfir status still applies, since the criterion is the distance itself and not the time actually taken.

A traveller who remains beyond 15 days after completing the outward journey is nonetheless not treated as a resident, and continues to perform qasr, in four cases: (1) no intention to stay 15 days was formed, but circumstances extended the stay beyond it; (2) no fixed intention was formed and departure was expected imminently throughout, yet the stay reached 15 days or more; (3) an intention to stay 15 days or more was formed, but the place itself was unfit for residence; (4) an intention to stay 15 days or more was formed, but not fixed to a single place: the traveller planned to move between several places; and a fifth, where the traveller's onward journey is contingent on someone else's decision.

A resident may follow a travelling imam at all times, whether in a farḍ or a qaḍāʾ prayer. On the travelling imam's completion of two rakʿahs and salām, the resident follower rises and completes the remaining rakʿahs alone, standing silently for the duration recitation would have taken rather than reciting aloud.

A traveller following a resident imam does not perform qasr, but completes the prayer in full together with the imam, on condition that this occurs within that prayer's own time, and not after its time has elapsed.