The March Sets Out: When Travel Begins

Shaykh Yasir Qadhi explains:

The Prophet ﷺ set out from Medina on the 10th of Ramaḍān in the 8th year of the Hijrah, leaving one Companion in charge of the city, not one of the famous names but a little-known man, Abū Ruhm Kulthūm ibn al-Ḥuṣayn, which itself shows that every major Companion had joined the Conquest; someone simply had to manage Medina's affairs.

❧Travel Begins Outside the City

The people were fasting, and only when the Prophet ﷺ reached Qudayd, past the city, did he and the Companions break the fast. From this the vast majority of scholars derive a simple, important rule: travel does not begin from within the city. You may not break the fast or shorten the prayer while still inside your town, not in your house before a flight, not at the airport. If it is Ramaḍān and you will travel later that day, you must begin the fast and keep it until your plane has actually left the city limits; only then may you break it and begin qaṣr (shortening) and jamʿ (combining) the prayer. The Sīrah shows it plainly.