THE BEGINNING OF THE JOURNEY
f15.6 If one's city has walls, one may begin shortening prayers as soon as one has passed them, whether or not there are other buildings outside them. If there are no walls, one may shorten one's prayers after passing beyond the last buildings, excluding farms, orchards, and cemeteries. (N: When the buildings of a city extend to the next city, one's journey begins at the former's city limits, or at what people commonly acknowledge (def: f4.5) to be the edge of town.) A desert dweller may begin shortening prayers when he passes beyond his people's tents. (O: A person living in a valley begins shortening prayers when he has traversed the distance of the valley's width. Someone living on a hill begins when he comes down from it. A person living in a gorge begins when he climbs up out of it.)
THE END OF THE JOURNEY
f15.7 When the trip ends one must pray the full number of rak`as for each prayer. A trip ends when one reaches one's hometown. It also ends:
(1) by the mere intention to stay in a place at least 4 full days, not counting the day one arrives or the day one departs;
(2) or by staying that long without the intention, so that after one has stayed 4 full days, not counting the days of arrival and departure, one prays the full number of rak`as, unless one is staying in a place in order to fulfill a purpose that one expects to accomplish and intends to leave as soon as one does.
As long as this is the case, one may shorten one's prayers for up to 18 days. If longer than this one prays the full number. This holds for both jihad (def: o9) and other purposes.
When one reaches one's destination and intends to stay there for a significant amount of time (O: 4 days), one must pray the full number of rak`as, but if not (O: as when not intending to stay at all, or intending 3 days or less), then one may continue shortening prayers for either 4 days (O: if one learns that one cannot accomplish one's purpose during them), or 18, if one can expect one's purpose to be accomplished at any moment.
