Q.1. I work as a long distance driver, traveling sometimes across the Kingdom and sometimes even to neighboring countries. I would like to know how do I offer my prayers when on a journey.
Q.2. If a married expatriate remains away from home for three years with his family living at home, is there any ruling against this?
Q.3. If a person saves, say, SR1000 every month, how does he calculate his zakah?
A.H. Shaibu, Al-Qurayat
A.1. Every time you travel, you should shorten your 4-rakaah prayers to two each. Thus, Dhuhr, Asr and Isha may be offered in 2 rakaahs for each of them. This is a concession which is available from the moment you start your journey. Thus, if you leave home at 12 noon and shortly after you have left town Dhuhr falls due and you stop to pray, you offer that prayer in 2 rakaahs only, even though you have not gone more than a few kilometers on your journey.
This is because you have started traveling and all the concessions applicable to travelers are available to you. You may also, if you wish, combine the two day prayers, i.e. Dhuhr and Asr, and the two night prayers, i.e. Maghrib and Isha, together, offering each two at the same time, one after the other.
You may continue to use these concessions throughout your journey until you come home.
Thus, if you travel to Jeddah and stay 2 or 3 days, then travel to Madinah where you spend another couple of days before traveling on to Tabuk, then to Jordan and back, staying a few days in each place of call, you continue to use this concession throughout.
The only time when you stop doing so while still on a journey is when you intend to make an extended stay, say 3 weeks or longer, in any one place.
A.2. If a married man is working abroad and he stays for a long period, leaving his wife at home, he may do so provided that his wife is in full and voluntary agreement. If she does not agree to his prolonged absence, then he should not be away from home for more than four months at a time. Separation from family is not good for either husband or wife. However, when the two agree to something of this nature, hoping that it will bring them future security, they may do so.
But if the wife feels her husband’s absence to be too hard on her, he may not leave her alone for a very long period.
A.3. A person who saves SR1,000 a month will soon have more than the threshold of zakah, which is equivalent to the value of 85 grams of gold, i.e. around SR3,500.
When he has this amount of savings, in excess of his immediate living needs, he becomes a zakah payer, and he should mark the date as his zakah date. Next year and each subsequent year, on the same date, he calculates what he has. If it remains over the threshold of zakah, he must pay zakah for all he has at the rate of 2.5 percent.
Thus, this man saving SR1,000 each month will have SR15,500 after one year, and SR27,500 the following year. He pays zakah for these amounts respectively. Suppose that during the following year, he buys a house in his home country for SR30,000, and on his zakah date he is left with only SR9,500, he pays zakah for that amount.
The fact that at one point during the year he spent all his savings and was left with less than the threshold of zakah does not affect his liability, because he remained in a good financial position throughout the year.
