Grand Ayatollah Shirazi remarks on state of travelling in Sharia

The daily scholarly meeting of Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Sadiq al-Hosseini al-Shirazi was held on Monday and Tuesday, the 22nd and 23rd of Sha’ban. In these sessions, like the previous meetings, the Marja answered the questions of the attendees about various jurisprudence issues.

In relation to the ruling on a traveler’s fasting during the holy month of Ramadan, Grand Ayatollah Shirazi said: If a traveler decides to stay in a place for ten days or more, they can fast during the holy month of Ramadan, provided they are sure that they will stay there for at least ten days. But, if the person goes to another city during this ten-day stay, they must, upon returning, make an intention (niyyah) to fast again for ten days, otherwise they cannot fast.

Referring to the fact that four ‘farsakhs’ are equal to 22 and a half kilometers, His Eminence said: A ‘journey’ according to Sharia is eight farsakhs, and it is considered valid in terms of Sharia when the traveler travels either eight farsakhs directly, or travels four farsakhs along the route, and makes a return journey of four farsakhs, marking a total of eight farsakhs. It is so, whether those four farsakhs take place in the middle of another city or in the desert, and there is no difference in this regard.

He further said: If there is, for example, a distance of two or three farsakhs between two cities or two villages, in such a situation, the Sharia-defined journey will not take place. Therefore, if a person leaves the end of that city or the end of that village and travels a distance of 22 and a half kilometers, and make a return journey of 22 and a half kilometers, the Sharia-defined journey has taken place.