Is the uninterrupted presence of intention a condition in acts of worship like prayer and fasting, and is it severed by speaking, sleeping, and the like? Is intention a condition for travel in order to shorten and combine prayers?

It is permissible to make the intention for prayer a short while before the Takbīrat al-Iḥrām (the opening Allahu Akbar), though it is better to make it concurrently. A long interval (between intention and Takbīr) invalidates the prayer. As for fasting, its intention is sufficient if it occurs at any part of the night. For the permissibility of shortening prayers (qaṣr), it is a condition to intend a specific destination at the beginning of the journey. Furthermore, according to the Shāfiʿīs, Ḥanbalīs, and Mālikīs, the intention to shorten the prayer is required at the Takbīrat al-Iḥrām. However, according to the Mālikīs, intending qaṣr at the first prayer during the journey is sufficient. It is not a condition according to the Ḥanafīs.