________________________________________________________________________ | w w w |\ | || || | || |\ | o_,_7 _|| . _o_7 _|| 4_|_|| o_w_, |\ | ( : / (_) / ( . |\ | |\ | || || | || |T | | || | |\ | . _, _8 |_D_|| . _,_,_,_D_|| 4_|| q ]_o_7_o _|_c 4_|_|| _|,_p q |\ | (_): / (_): . : / (_S (_S / |\ | |\ | In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the All-Merciful |\ | Greeting of Allah be upon Muhammad and the pure members of his House |\ |_______________________________________________________________________|\ The following question was kindly answered by Brother Liyakatali Takim Regards Abbas Jaffer Acting Moderator - ABDG-A. ............................................................................ Question The following question is regarding short business travel during the holy month of Ramadhan. My mother has been told that she may have to make one or two business trips to Ottawa during Ramadhan. Living in Toronto, it is about a 40 Minute flight, roughly the same amount of time it takes to commute to her downtown office. Her rationale is because it is such a short trip and that she leaves early at roughly the same time in the morning returns at roughly the same time in the evening as she would if she was working that day in Toronto, she feels that she does not have to pray Qasr, and she is allowed to fast. She also feels that these trips are a part of her occupation and in a way part of her routine. However, the trips are not done on a fixed, routine manner, ie. weekly, monthly etc. Can you please provide us with information on this issue, keeping in mind that we do the taqlid of Ayatullah Sestani. ............................................................................ Answer According to Ayatullah Seestani, your mother cannot fast when she travels to Ottawa. This is because she crosses the boundary of tarakkhus of Toronto (which, going to Ottawa is approximately near Pickering) and her journey exceeds 8 farsakhs. Moreover, since her work does not involve continuous travelling away from her home town of Toronto, she cannot be considered as a person whose profession requires her to travel. Please See Tawdhihu'l Masail of Ayatullah Seestani, English translation pages 241-8. May Allah accept all our a'mal, Amin Liyakatali