Traveler

In Islamic jurisprudence, a traveler (Arabic: مسافر) is the person who should observe certain rulings about the acts of worship due to one's distance from one's hometown in religious law. In Shi'a jurisprudence, a person is called "traveler" who has the following conditions:

• One travels at least eight farsakhs (about forty to forty five kilometers in total), or goes four farsakhs and returns four farsakhs (which makes eight farsakhs in total)

• Since the beginning of the travel, one intends to travel eight farsakhs and does not change one's intention in the middle of the way.

• One does not want to stay ten days or more anywhere before one reaches the distance of eight farsakhs.

• One does not travel for a forbidden action.

• One should not be a desert dweller who travels in deserts.

• One's job should not be traveling.

A traveler should perform one's prayer in shortened form, meaning that one should perform two rak'as instead of four rak'as in four-rak'a prayers. Such a traveler should not fast, but a traveler who performs one's prayer in complete form (such as the person whose job is traveling or the one whose travel is for a forbidden action) should fast in travel (when one has to fast, e.g. in the month of Ramadan).