Our Shaykh Abu Bilaal Al-Hadhramy- may Allah preserve him- was...
Purification and Prayer for the one who travels on bus
Question :
Sometimes we travel in bus overnight and the bus doesn’t stop at the time of fajr prayer. And we cannot perfrom wudhu inside the bus. So we carry with us some sand to do tayammum in this situation ?
We will be sitting in bus and we will not have place to pray while standing and we cannot face expect the direction that the bus moves, so might not be able to face towards qiblah while praying ? so can we pray in this situation while sitting and whatever the direction that the bus moves ?
Answer :
If the person thinks the bus stops before the time of fajr ends, he can wait until gets down from the bus and prays after he gets down. But if he thinks that the bus doesn’t stop until the time for fajr ends, then if there is dust on the seats inside the bus, then he can do tayammum from that. If there is no dust then he can perform tayammum from the sand that he carries with him. Carrying the sand with a person in a journey is an innovation, but in the above mentioned case he can carry under compulsion. In case, he forgets to carry the sand with him and he doesn’t find any dust, he can pray without tayammum as Allah has told : ‘So keep your duty to Allah and fear Him as much as you can’ [At Taghabun-16].
As for the prayer, if he cannot face the qiblah and cannot pray while standing, then he can pray while sitting in whatever the direction that the bus goes and does the ruku and sujood with signs meaning he bends more for sujuud than he bends for rukoo.
Answered by : Shaykh Abu Bilal Al Hadhrami
Translated by : AbdunNoor Al Hindi
Note : See also the following fatwas
1) Is it permissible to offer Salah (prayer) on a plane at the due time?
2) Is it permissible for a traveler to perform Salah (Prayer) on board a plane or on a ship at sea? What should they do if they cannot find any water for Wudu’ (ablution) or earth for Tayammum (dry ablution), and they do not know when the time for the Salah is due or the direction of the Qiblah (Ka`bah-direction faced in Prayer), is it permissible for them to perform Salah? How should it be performed and in which direction should they face?
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