A question was presented: ‘Should one shorten the Prayers even if one travels only three kos [a kos is approximately 2 miles] on a journey?’
The Promised Messiah (as) answered:
Yes. One should carefully examine his intent. In all these issues, one should carefully observe taqwa [righteousness]. Everyday travel in relation to your work is not a journey. A journey is when one undertakes a specific travel and leaves his home only for that purpose, and it is commonly considered a journey. I go for a walk every day for a couple of miles, but this is not a journey. On such an occasion, one should take into account his conscience and if it gives the verdict without any unease that it is a journey, then he should shorten [the Prayer].
One should follow the dictum إِسْتَفْتِ قَلْبَکَ1 (Take the verdict of your conscience). Even in the presence of a thousand fatwas, still the satisfaction of the heart of a believer with all its pure intention is a wonderful thing.
It was submitted that people have different circumstances—some do not consider nine or ten kos to be a journey, for others even three to four kos is a journey.
The Promised Messiah (as) said:
The Shariah has not trusted these points. The noble Companions [of the Holy Prophet (sas)] have considered three kos to be a journey.
It was submitted:
Your Holiness! Do you shorten the Prayers when you go to Batala?
The Promised Messiah (as) said:
Yes, because that is a journey. What I say is that if a doctor or an administrator travels to several villages as part of his tour, he cannot add up all his travel and call it a journey.
Enquiry was presented: ‘Is a one year old lamb acceptable for sacrifice?’
The Promised Messiah (as) replied:
Get the opinion of Maulawi Sahib. There are different views about it between the Ahl-e-Hadith and the Hanafi [sects].2
A person asked the Promised Messiah (as): ‘If the [sacrificial] animal fulfilling all the features mentioned in the Hadith is not available can we sacrifice an animal that is deficient in some respects?
The Promised Messiah (as) said:
It is permissible in extenuating circumstances, but what is the constraint these days? There are plenty of days. One can try to find [the proper animal]. To argue unnecessarily or to be tardy is not permissible.3
1 Musnad Ahmad bin Hanbal, Hadith 8985. [Publisher]
2 Note by the editor of Badr: According to the research of Maulawi Sahib, a lamb less than two years of age is not acceptable for sacrifice per Ahl-e-Hadith.
3 Badr, vol. 7, no. 3, p. 2, dated 23 January 1908