Professor of Islamic Jurisprudence at Imam Bin Mohammed Bin Saud University in Riyadh Saleh Al-Sadlan has said that he sees no objection to considering proposals to keep highway service stations open during prayer times. Al-Sadlan said that such a measure could be introduced “because travelers require certain services while on their journeys and they can conduct their prayers in accordance with their status as travelers by combining them so that they are not held up by waiting for others to say their prayers.” A study being conducted by the General Presidency of the Commission of the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (Hai'a) on permitting highway services to remain open during prayer times, with focus primarily on gasoline stations and pharmacies, has once again brought the issue to the fore. Saudi Gazette published a report on Jan. 4 in which several senior academic and religious figures offered their varying degrees of support for such a move. Adviser to the Royal Court Sheikh Abdul Mohsen Al-Obeikan said that service areas outside city boundaries should only close for a brief period. “The situation at the moment where they remain closed for longer periods is entirely unnecessary,” Al-Obeikan said. “Staff at gas stations and highway rest houses should perform their prayers only in so far as it doesn't hold travelers up. The problem could be resolved by permitting them to close for only ten minutes, which is the time prayer takes, as a wait for travelers of ten minutes is not much to ask.” The head of the Islamic and Arabic Studies Department at King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Misfir Al-Qahtani, said that gas stations should “stay open round-the-clock, including during prayer times”, adding that there is “no Shariah objection to this.” “It should not just be restricted to gas stations but should also include other important places like pharmacies inside the city that provide people with necessities,” Al-Qahtani said. The question of who is actually responsible for closing the sites during prayer times also proved to be something of a conundrum. Researcher Abdullah Ibrahim Al-Ku'eid laid the responsibility at the door of “religious institutions”, notably the Hai'a - saying that “foreign workers close service stations and shops before prayer fearing punishment, or to avoid working” - as did the Director of Endowments and Mosques at the Ministry of Islamic Affairs, Faheed Al-Barqi, who said his ministry had no role in business closures during prayer times. “That is the responsibility of the Hai'a,” he said. However, the official national spokesman for the Hai'a, Abdul Mohsen Al-Qaffari, disagreed. “The Hai'a is not responsible for closing service stations at prayer times. The Hai'a's responsibility is limited to within city boundaries, and anything that occurs outside those limits is none of its responsibility,” Al-Qaffari said. Jurisdiction over the matter, he added, lies with the highway police. Majed Al-Shaddi of Media and Public Relations at the Commission for Tourism and Antiquities said there was no specific supervisory body for service stations or rest houses on highways and that jurisdiction was disputed between several bodies, among them the ministries of Transport and Municipal and Rural Affairs, the Police, and Governorate offices. “That's why it's difficult to know who exactly would be responsible for permitting the opening of these places during prayer times,” Al-Shaddi said. On the study currently being conducted by the Hai'a, Al-Qaffari said that it was also looking at proposals for pharmacies and gas stations to remain open during prayer inside cities. “The study had not been completed yet, and no decision has been reached so far,” he said. With Saleh Al-Sadlan, a significant figure in Islamic jurisprudence in the Kingdom, now adding his voice to those expressing no objections from a Shariah perspective, it would appear that serious consideration for such a move is gaining ground.
