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Janaabah whilst travelling
A traveller may find himself on a long plane journey during which he becomes junub (impure). He has no way of performing ghusl, and there is nothing on the plane that he could use for tayammum. If he waits until he reaches his destination, the time for prayer will be over, and it may be a prayer that he cannot join with another, such as fajr, when he set out before fajr and will not arrive until after sunrise, or the time for joining two prayers such as zuhr and ‘asr may also be over, because he set out before zuhr and will not arrive until after maghrib. What should he do in such a situation?
If we accept that he has no means of performing ghusl on board the plane, then he is in the situation known by the scholars as “the one who does not have access to the two purifying materials (i.e., water or earth).” There are varying opinions on this situation. Imaam Ahmad and the majority of muhaddithoon say that he should pray as he is, because this is all that he can do, and “Allaah burdens not a person beyond his scope.” [al-Baqarah 2:286 – interpretation of the meaning]. The specific evidence in this case is the report narrated by Muslim in his Saheeh, where it states that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) sent some people to look for a necklace that ‘Aa’ishah had lost. The time for prayer came, and they prayed without wudoo’ (because they could not find water). When they came to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), they told him about it and then the aayah of tayammum was revealed. (Saheeh Muslim, 367). The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) did not blame or criticize them, neither did he tell them to repeat the prayer. This indicates that prayer is obligatory, and even though tahaarah is a condition for prayer, prayer should not be delayed when tahaarah cannot be accomplished. (al-Mughni ma’a al-Sharh al-Kabeer, 1/251). A similar ruling applies to the sick who cannot move their limbs at all, and people who are imprisoned and chained up or suspended.
What is meant is that the prayer should be performed in the best way possible under the circumstances, and it should not be delayed beyond its set time. According to the soundest opinion, it does not have to be repeated, for Allaah does not lay upon us in religion any hardship.