Assalamu alaykum,
As Samiha rightly pointed out, you can join your prayers when travelling what you consider to be a long journey. You can also shorten the prayers as follows:
1. Fajr, remains the same. You pray 2 Fardh.
2. Zohr and Asr are Joined. There are no Sunnah units, you just pray the Fardh which are shortened to just 2 units. So you can pray 2 Fardh for Zohr, followed by another 2 Fardh for Asr. (although, if you go to a mosque or read behind another person who is not a traveller you should read normal number i.e. 4)
3. Maghrib and Isha are joined, Maghrib the units stay the same, Isha you shorten to 2 units, and the Witr.
The evidence for this is from Quran, Allah says:
“And when you (Muslims) travel in the land, there is no sin on you if you shorten As-Salaah (the prayer) if you fear that the disbelievers may put you in trial (attack you), verily, the disbelievers are ever unto you open enemies”
[al-Nisa 4:101]
The Prophet
further clarified this, as you can shorten regardless of any difficulties you might face when travelling:
The Prophet
saw
said:
“The prayer when travelling is two rak’ahs.” Narrated by al-Nasaa’i, 1420; classed as saheeh by al-Albaani in Saheeh al-Nasaa’i.
The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said:
“Allaah has waived half the prayer for the traveller.” Narrated by al-Nasaa’i, 2275; classed as hasan by al-Albaani in Saheeh al-Nasaa’i.
Points to note:
You can not shorten your prayers from your home but at the destination.
You Can Join your prayers from your home before you leave.
Infact you can join your prayers for no reason, whatsoever as the following hadith shows:
It was narrated that Ibn ‘Abbaas said: The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) prayed Zuhr and ‘Asr together in Madeenah, at a time when there was no fear and he was not travelling. Abu’l-Zubayr said: I asked Sa’eed [i.e., ibn Jubayr], Why did he do that? He said, I asked Ibn ‘Abbaas the same question, and he said, He did not want anyone among his ummah to suffer hardship.
Narrated by Muslim, 705.
You can find More information here:
http://www.islamqa.com/index.php?ln=eng&ds=qa&QR=49885
It is not permissible to pray sitting down in a plane or elsewhere if one is able to stand, because of the general meaning of the verse (interpretation of the meaning):
“And stand before Allaah with obedience”
[al-Baqarah 2:238]
And the hadeeth of ‘Imraan ibn Husayn which was narrated by al-Bukhaari: that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said to him: “Pray standing, and if you cannot, then sitting, and if you cannot, then on your side.” Al-Nasaa’i added, with a saheeh isnaad: “And if you cannot, then lying on your back.”
Some of the scholars are of the view that it is not permissible to pray in planes, trains or cars because it is not possible to offer the prayer as it is offered when standing on the ground – unless there is the fear that the time for the prayer will end.
Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen (may Allaah have mercy on him) said in Fataawa Arkaan al-Islam (p. 380):
It is obligatory to pray in a plane if one does not know the time of the prayer, but if he cannot offer the prayer in the plane as he offers it on the ground, then he should not offer obligatory prayers in the plane if the plane will land before the time for prayer is over, or the time for the following prayer if it is a prayer that may be joined with another. For example, if a plane takes off from Jeddah just before sunset and the sun sets whilst it is in the air, he should not pray Maghrib until the plane lands and he disembarks. But if he fears that the time will end and he intends to join it to ‘Isha’ at the time of the latter, he can pray them when he lands. But if the plane keeps on flying and there is the fear that the time for ‘Isha’ will end, which is at midnight, then he should pray them in the plane before the time ends.
Based on this, in order to be on the safe side, you should not pray ‘Asr in the train, rather you should join it with Zuhr at the time of Zuhr, as stated above.
