Discover the meaning of the term Al-sfr (سفر) in Islamic vocabulary.
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Updated on 11 April 2026 at 1:05 AM
📖 4 min readIn language: covering the distance. In law: going out with the intent of a journey of three days and their nights and beyond, at the pace of camels and the walking of feet; al-safar, among the people of truth, denotes the heart's journey when it is taken toward the True by remembrance (dhikr); the journeys are four.
In language: covering the distance; its plural: asfar; but what is meant in the Sharia is the distance that alters the rulings; thus in al-Tabyin.
The plural of 'sahir' (traveler), like 'sahib' and 'sahb'; 'al-musafirun' is the plural of 'musafir'; 'al-safr' and 'al-musafirun' are of one meaning
In language: covering the distance. In the Sharia: going out from the houses of the town with the intent of a journey of three days and their nights and beyond, at the pace of camels and the walking of feet. The rulings altered by travel are: the shortening of prayer, the permission to break the fast, the extension of the term of wiping over the boots to three days, the falling away of the obligation of Friday prayer, the two Eids and the sacrificial animal ('udhiya), and the prohibition of setting out for the Haram without being in ihram. What is considered is the middling pace, that is, camels' pace and foot-walking in the shortest days of the year. Whether the travel must be maintained each day until night, they differed; the sound position is that it is not required, so that even if one sets out on the first day and walks until midday, reaches the stage and lodges there, then sets out on the second day likewise, and on the third day likewise, he becomes a traveler; thus in al-Siraj al-Wahhaj. Parasangs are not considered, thus in al-Hidaya; travel on land is not measured by travel at sea, nor travel at sea by travel on land; in each of the two, what befits the condition is considered. The duration is considered by whatever route is taken: if a man intends a town to which lead two roads, one a journey of three days and their nights and the other less, and he takes the farther road, he is a traveler according to us; thus in Fatawa Qadikhan; if he takes the shorter, he is not; thus in al-Bahr al-Ra'iq. Traveling on Thursday and Saturday at the day's start is recommended. 'Ali, may Allah ennoble his countenance, said: 'Do not travel in the last part of the month, and do not travel while the moon is in Scorpio'; thus in Fatawa al-Hujja; and how wondrous the versifier!
With fatha and a sukun: uncovering the cover, specific to bodies, such as uncovering the turban from the head and the veil from the face; and 'safara al-bayt': he swept the house with the safr, that is, the broom, thereby removing the safr from it, which is the dust; and 'asfara 'an al-shay'': he uncovered it and made it clear.