Prayer while traveling

[Mental Possibility]

Question: you said "if the travel is not haram". so, if one's travel is haram, i.e a woman is travelling with other women only ad no muhram, will it not be acceptable for her to combine prayers for while trvelling? not only would she have the sin of travelling, but also the pr
ayers wouldn't be counted? wud she have to make them up later then,even if she combined prayers at the airport so she wouldn't miss them? assalamu alaykum!

Answer: wa ^alaykum salaam. if the woman's travel was Haram, or any person for that matter, then if he shortened the 4 rak^ah prayers, they are not valid, no matter what time he prayed them.

if he prayed asr at dhuhr time, the asr is not valid. If he prayed Ishaa' at maghrib time, it is not valid. this is because he prayed them early, and praying early is not valid and a major sin. he would have to make them up.

If he prayed dhuhr at asr time, or maghrib at ishaa' time, then this is delaying without an excuse, which is also a major sin, but not as big as praying early, because the late prayer is valid as a make up.

the person has to make up the prayers that were missed without excuse immediately. they can be done at any time, even the times when it is forbidden to pray, because their times have already started; i.e. they are due. (the person can pray the make-up in the time when it is forbidden to pray because the reason for the prayer is already confirmed. what is forbidden in the forbidden times to pray is praying a prayer that had no previous reason).

[Mental Possibility]

There are 3 cases of jam^ (combining):

1. travel: if all conditions are fulfilled, then one can pray dhuhr at asr time, or asr at dhuhr time, and maghrib at ^Ishaa' time, or ^Ishaa' at maghrib time.
2. rain: if the conditions are satisfied, one can pray asr at dhuhr time or ^Ishaa' at maghrib time. Hence, in the case of rain, there is only advance and no delay.
3. the shafi^iyyah differed about the legitimacy of this third case, which is sickness: those who validated said that if the conditions are fulfilled then if one feels that the sickness will worsen, he can advance. If he feels it will get lighter, he can delay. If he feels that it will stay constant, he must pray regularly.

[Mental Possibility]

The permissions of a traveler are not based on ease or difficulty, rather they are based on being a traveler. The jamaa3ah prayer is valid as a traveler, but the traveler is not addressed with the communal obligation, so if no one prays the jamaa^ah prayer, then as a traveler, the sin does not fall on him. That's according to the saying that it is a communal obligation.

As long as he still has the permissions of a traveler he can shorten and combine his prayers, and this is recommended for him. As long as one is traveling the proper distance, and his travel is not haram, he can shorten and combine while traveling and after reaching his destination- if he is staying there for 3 entire days or LESS, and these 3 days do not include the entry and exit days (so it's AS IF he gets five days). if once he reaches his destination he will be staying for 4 days or more, he loses his permissions and must pray regularly from the day of entry.