Calculating Safar Distance

Calculating safar distance from the boundary of one's town

Q: Please advise on the following with regards to qasr salaat. I reside in the Phoenix area and go visit my in laws in Umzinto which is about 90km from Phoenix.

Phoenix is in the Ethekwini (Durban) municipality which extends from Tongaat in the north to Umkomaas in the South and to Camperdown in the West. Where do I count the boundary, from the town of Phoenix or from the Ethekwini municipal boundary? Umkomaas to Umzinto is about 20km but it is about 70km from Phoenix. Please advise.

Qasar salaah during hajj

Q: Questions related to qasar salaah during Haj:

1. As per hanafi mazhab, if a person stays for 15 days or more in Makkah before leaving for Mina, Arafat, etc, he should perform full salah in Makkah, Mina, Arafat, Muzdalifa and back in Makkah. Is my understanding correct?

2. Once we leave our city boundaries, we will offer qasar salaah until we reach our destination. After reaching our destination we should calculate the number of days that we stay. Is this correct?

3. Should the 15 day calculation start when we start from home or once we reach our destination?

4. We had a total of 40 days stay. Aug 4th we started from home, reached Makkah on 5th around 00:00. 5th to 18th we were in Makkah. 19th before fajr we were in Mina. 19-23 were Haj days. 24th Aug to 4th Sep back in Makkah. 5th to 14th Sep in Madina. Performing Qasar is correct in all places?

Travelling safar distance

Q: If I intend to travel to a place which is more than 50 miles away (Place A), and intend to stay there for 20 days, I understand that I will not be a traveler and will not do qasr. However, after 20 days at Place A, if I travel to Place B which is 50 miles away from Place A, and intend on staying there for 5 days, will I do qasr in Place B?

Suburbs being joined to the city

Q: I have travelled the musaafir distance to a major city with many suburbs within it, and I will be residing in this city for two months. However, from time to time, I will move between the suburbs of this city and spend the night in the different suburbs of this city. Up to now, I do not have the intention to stay 15 days in one particular suburb. Am I a musaafir or a muqeem?

From which point should safar distance be calculated

Q: I have a question regarding qasr.

The distance between Pietermaritzburg and Durban is 77 km which is not qasr distance. I’ve heard a few people saying that if you continue traveling around the area e.g. to North Beach or Westville then you should start reading qasr salah. Is this correct? If it is, then would you still be regarded as a musaafir if you spend nearly every weekend in Durban?