Muslims should always know the importance of time. The five time daily prayers need to be performed during specific time throughout the day and if one doesn’t manage his/her time properly then a prayer can be easily missed. You get additional reminder of the importance of time in the month of Ramadan.
We have to set out clock well before the fast officially starts so that we can finish eating our sehri (pre-dawn meal) and be ready for the fajr prayers. Similarly, we have to wait till it is time for iftaar. Ramadan is also a month of quran and taraweeh prayers therefore we have to manage our daily affairs carefully to make room for additional prayers while we maintain a professional life with full productivity.
Among the people exempted from fasting during Ramadan are the travelers although they have to make it up later. Travelers are also asked to shorten their prayers which is a discount not even able to those who are sick. Now why is that travelers get more discount than people who are sick? Most people think it is because a traveler may not have the same facility or comfort as home and therefore prayers are shortened to make it easier to pray. But my theory is that it is the importance of time that Islam offers a discount.
With some exceptions, all travels are with a purpose- business, education, visiting relatives, pilgrimage, etc. Since one has a limited time during his travel to accomplish that goal it is given highest priority and therefore a discount is given so that travelers continue to remember the lord but utilize their time in accomplishing the task that they set out to do.
These days, though all travelers take benefit of the shorter prayers but all try to keep the fast. The reason is simple; it is much easier to fast in Ramadan than other months.
Asslaamoalaikum. The time was given importance when the connection of the place with time was not clear. Today in global environment , it is difficult to argue about adherence of time unless you are talking about a restricted geographical area on the earth. Yes it si a good concept for a community discipline in all the activities of religeous life or other wise. It is difficult to convince about adherence to time when a personal is connected with two different time zones where one place it is night and other plce it is day. Even worse is the position when one is in the time zone where there is continous day or night and the at same time is connected with the place where it may day or night. These situations were unknown when time adherence was vehmently enforced. To day it is difficult to tak about such issues on media which is global. I feel it is better to leave such issue for local preachers who do not have conecpt of time connected with the space/location on surface of earth only.