asalaam alaykum
I have a question concerning salat & work.  Right now I am a truck driver and this job requires alot of my time.  There is no problem doing fajr before I leave home. It’s when I start my job…some days I’m out 11-13 hours a day driving on the road.  I travel anywheres from 100 -300 kms from home. How can I pray duhr, asr, magrib when I’m in a semi-truck, on the highway in the middle of winter? Even if I can stop somewheres its hard to find a place to pray.  I would do it outside but it is very cold weather right now.  What is the correct way of doing salat when I have a job that keeps me travelling most of the day?

Time: Wednesday December 8, 2010 at 9:04 pm

Answer: ?????? ?????? ????? ???? ???????

May Allah reward you and bless you for having a concern for His actions of worship. Doing actions are He requires does remain a valid issue. You have not sited a security matter, nor the possibility of a loss of limb or life due to weather conditions as it relates to prayer.

The following has been derived from Quran and the books of fiqh: Allah the Greatest states: ????? ??????????? ??????? ????? ?????????????? ?????????? ???????????? Surely prayer is a timed (fixed) decree for the believers. (4:103)

Thus, in everyday occurrences as well as when it remains that all matters are consistent, we must give preference of Quran over Hadith and sunnah. When it can be deduced that we can combine between Quran and Sunnah without violating the rules of either one, we should do so.

Aside from better time management, it is our contention that salaah can have the appearance of being joined to save you time and keep the flow of work in place. For example: Magrib salaah is at 5:00pm and asr salaah times ends at 4:59. A person can complete his Asr prayers by 4:57 or so, wait a few minutes for the magrib time to set in, and then perform magrib salaah. This is the appearance of two salaah being performed together; however, each salaah is still being performed on its correct time. In travel this method can be used. However, this method must only be used out of necessity, not as an everyday occurrence.

To delay and salaah without justification is viewed as an action of dislike.

Allah Certainly Knows Best.