I am a student, living in Canada and temperature here is very cold now, near 0C. There is a mosque here which is about 8 minutes walking distance from my home. I have a car and I have a “learner licence” and I need to wait for about 6 months to get a full licence. The law here is that, If I want to drive with “learner licence”, then someone who has a “full licence” should sit beside me in the car.
I want to pray Fazr in mosque and go there by driving because it is very difficult to walk in these cold days. Also, the roads are empty in Fazr time.
My question is, if I drive to mosque alone, then I am breaking the law. Should I go to mosque or pray Fazr in home?
Praise be to Allah.
If the matter is as you describe, and you cannot find
anyone to take you to the mosque even in return for payment that you can
afford, then this is an excuse that permits you not to attend the prayer
in congregation, and there is no blame on you, in sha Allah.
But if you know that you have the skills in driving and are
able to do that, and you are certain that no harm will result to you or
anyone else from your driving on your own to the mosque, and the delay in
obtaining your licence is only because of general administrative rules that
require you to wait for the period mentioned, with no exceptions for anybody
– if the situation is as we have described, then we do not think that there
is anything wrong, in sha Allah, with you driving the car by yourself for
this short distance so that you can attend the prayer in congregation.
But we still do not think that you have to do that.
And Allah knows best.
