Prayer: For shar‘ī distance, is the measure to the city’s start or to the exact destination (like a friend’s house) within it?

Practical Laws of Islam as per the teachings of Imam Khamenei

Prayer: For shar‘ī distance, is the measure to the city’s start or to the exact destination (like a friend’s house) within it?

English:

Question #665:

One travels to a city. The distance between the two cities is less than the shar‘ī distance. However, the distance to the place (say, the house of his friend) he wants to go in the destination city is more than the shar‘ī distance. Which distance should be taken into account for calculating the shar‘ī distance; to the beginning of the destination city or to the place he wants to go?

Answer #665:

If the individual destination is not the city itself, but a special and independent place around the city, so that reaching the city is not considered as reaching the destination, but entering the city and passing through it is a way to reach the destination, such as some universities, barracks or hospitals located next to a city, in this case the end of the distance is the desired location, not the beginning of the city.

-Imam Khamenei, Practical Laws of Islam, Importance and Conditions of Prayer