Ibn-i Abidin says: "All 'ulama have described the "way of three days" by a unit called farsah, the distance traveled in one hour. Some of them said a way of three days was 21 farsahs; some said it was 18 farsahs; and others said it was 15 farsahs. The fatwa has been given according to the second judgement." In the fatwa of the majority, one marhala, the distance traveled in one day, is six farsahs on a smooth route. One farsah is equal to 3 miles. One marhala is equal to 18 miles, so three times marhala is 54 miles. Within the subject of tayammum, it is written by Ibn-i Abidin that one mile is equal to 4,000 dhra's, that the report saying that it is 4,000 steps is weak and that 1 dhra' is a length equal to the total width of as many as the number of letters in the Kalima at-tawhid, i.e. twenty-four, fingers. A finger is about 2 cm wide. Hence, one dhra' is 48 cm, and one mile is 1920 m. Thus 1 fersah is 5760 m. Then, 1 marhala is 34,560 m, and a way of three days is about 104 km (103,680 m). [A Geographical mile is the length of the equatorial arc of one minute, which is equal to 1852 m.] One who goes from Kucuk cekmece, a suburb of Istanbul, to Tekirdag becomes safari. It is written in Al-fiqhu 'ala 'l-madhahib: "In the Shafi'i, Maliki, and Hanbali Madhhabs the distance for becoming safari is equal to 2 marhalas (qonaq). This is 16 farsahs, which makes 48 miles. For, 1 farsah is 3 miles. One mile is equal to 6,000 dhra' (the length of a man's arm). Distance of becoming safari is 80,640 m." In this case, one mile should equal 4,000 dhra' and one dhra' should equal 42 cm. As a matter of fact, it is written in an annotation to the Shafi'i fiqh book Al- muqaddimatu 'l-hadramiyya (second ed., 1404/1984): "In the Shafi'i, the distance for becoming safari is equal to 4 barids, i.e. 2 marhalas. 1 barid is equal to 4 farsahs; 1 farsah is equal to 3 miles; 1 mile is equal to 1,000 ba's. 1 ba' is 4 dhra's [forearms]. 1 dhra' is 2 spans." According to this annotation, the distance for becoming safari is equal to 16 farsahs, i.e. 48 miles, and 1 mile is equal to 4,000 dhra's. On page 523, Mirat-i Medina states: "In this text, the unit dhra' is the length of a man's forearm, which is equal to 7/8 of the iron measure used in Egypt and in the Hijaz today. It is about 2 spans." This unit of iron measure is the dhra' used in the Hanafi fiqh books and is the total width of 24 fingers. It is 48 cm., and so 7/8 of it makes 42 cm. As it is seen, in the Shafi'i Madhhab, one mile is equal to 4,000 dhra's, which means 1,680 m. 48 times a mile is 80 km. and 640 m. Distance of safar does not necessarily have to reach exactly this number in kilometers. It will be enough if the distance is known to be so or if one strongly estimates it to be so.
