Gifts of Knowledge

The Shaikh of Islaam Ibn Taymiyyah, was asked:

“Regarding the people of a town who work on its outskirts, the time for prayer comes while they have no water with them. If they were to go [back to the town] for water, their interests such as plowing, harvesting, and the like would be disrupted. Is it permissible for them to delay the prayer?”

He replied: “It is not allowed for them to delay the prayer beyond its appointed time, such that a daytime prayer is delayed until the sun sets, and this is according to the unanimous agreement of the Muslims. In fact, delaying the prayer until sunset is like delaying the month of Ramaḍān until Shawwāl.

And if they are plowing or harvesting and the water is so far from them such that if they were to go to it it would [gravely] damage/put out of commision what they were doing, then they should perform dry ablution [tayammam] and pray. If they join two prayers together with a single wuḍū, that is permissible.

And Allah knows best.”

Jāmiʿul-Masāʾili li Shaikhil-Islām Aḥmad ibn ʿAbdil-Ḥalīm ibn ʿAbdis-Salām ibn Taymiyyah, vol. 9, pp. 325-326.

Tagged: Ibn Taymiyyah