One who follows others and is unaware of the destination
Question

                Are those who are accompanying or following others (e.g. a soldier with his commander 
or a servant with his/her sponsor/boss) and are fully unaware of the destination permitted 
to take advantage of the license to shorten the prayers?
Praise be to Allah.If the people in question know beforehand that those whom they are following had the intention to 
travel, then they would be permitted to shorten. On the other hand, if they were fully unaware of the 
intentions of those whom they were following, they would be allowed to shorten prayers once they 
themselves set-off with the intention to travel apart from their companions. This ruling is the Hanbali 
and Hanafi opinion.