Whether it is permissible to shorten Salah for a traveler intending to stay for less than four days

Q: Every week, we travel as a group to a farm that lies past Dhurma' which is 80 km away. We leave on Wednesday morning and stay until Friday evening. We combine and shorten the Zhuhr (Noon) and ‘Asr (Afternoon) Prayers and perform them in congregation and all the other Salah (Prayers) until Friday. On Friday, we perform the Jumu‘ah (Friday) Prayer in congregation and afterwards, perform a shortened ‘Asr Prayer. Please give us a Fatwa (legal opinion by a qualified Muslim scholar) on this, bearing in mind that I perform the Salahs with the congregation, but I do not combine or shorten them. I offer them in full. I hope that you will advise as to whether I am correct in what I am doing.

A: If the situation is as you mentioned, the ruling of travelers not residents applies to you if you have intended to stay in that place for four days or less. Accordingly, it is permissible for you to shorten the four-Rak‘ah Salahs (Prayers consisting of four units) to two Rak‘ahs (units of Prayer) and to combine the Zhuhr (Noon) Prayer with the ‘Asr (Afternoon) Prayer in the time of either of them and likewise the Maghrib (Sunset) and the ‘Isha’ (Night) Prayers. It is not obligatory for you to perform the Jumu‘ah Prayer in congregation; you can perform in its place the Zhuhr Prayer as on other days, offering a two-Rak‘ah shortened Zhuhr Prayer, intending it to be a Zhuhr Prayer, with the recitation being subvocal. It is better for you and all those like you to perform Salah with other people if you can hear the Adhan (call to prayer) and to perform a complete Salah, because if a traveler performs a Salah with someone who is performing a complete Salah, they must also perform a complete Salah. Also, it is preferable for you not to combine your Salahs if you are performing them alone. If you want to perform the Jumu‘ah Prayer, it is not permissible to perform it alone; you must perform it with a congregation. (Part No. 6; Page No. 432) May Allah grant us success. May peace and blessings be upon our Prophet Muhammad, his family, and Companions.