The Ruling on a Traveler Who Resides While Traveling

Question:
Honorable Shaykh Salih, there are some inquiries from some of the brothers. This question says: We are a group of students sent abroad. Some of us have been here for one year, and others for two, three, or four years. Do we have the ruling of a traveler regarding fasting?

Answer:
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Praise be to Allah, and may peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah, and upon his family and his Companions, and whoever follows his guidance. As for what follows, Allah has granted the traveler a dispensation to shorten the prayer, , and the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) continued to shorten the prayer in his travels until Allah took him to Himself (Mighty and Majestic). Likewise, regarding breaking the fast, Allah (Exalted and Majestic is He) granted the traveler a dispensation to break his fast in Ramadan. He said, the Exalted: This is in the case of travel. As for the case of residence, yes.
Residence differs from travel. The default for the resident is that he does not shorten the prayer, and that he prays the prayer of a resident, not the prayer of a traveler. And the default for him is that he fasts, because he is a resident and not a traveler. This is the default. The exception is if the residence is not specified and not intended.
He resides to fulfill a need, not knowing when it will end, whether soon or after a period. In this case, he shortens the prayer and breaks his fast in Ramadan, because he did not intend a specified residence, so he remains on the intention of travel. The second case is if he intends to reside for a short time, meaning four days or less. In this case, he also takes the dispensation of shortening the prayer and breaking the fast in Ramadan, because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) arrived in Makkah during the Farewell Pilgrimage on the morning of the fourth day of Dhul-Hijjah and remained until the eighth day, the Day of Tarwiyah, while staying in al-Abtah, shortening the prayer. So if the residence is four days or less, he also takes the dispensations of travel, as the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did. However, if he intends to reside for more than four days, he returns to the default. He completes the prayer. The default for the resident is that he completes the prayer and fasts in Ramadan, and it is not permissible for him to take the dispensations of travel, because he has transitioned from a traveler to a resident, and the default for the resident is that he completes the prayer and fasts the month of Ramadan. This is the position of the majority of the scholars of knowledge. It may be said that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) resided in Makkah for fourteen days or eighteen days, shortening the prayer, and resided in Tabuk for twenty days, shortening the prayer. We say that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) did not intend a specified residence in Makkah, but rather he resided to prepare for the Battle of Hunayn. He resided for the Battle of Hunayn, preparing for it, and observing the conditions of the enemy, not knowing at what hour the encounter between him and the enemies would occur. Likewise, in his expedition to Tabuk, he only resided to observe the conditions of the disbelievers whom he came to fight, not knowing when they would attack or when the encounter between him and them would occur. So he did not reside for a specified period, but rather he resided for these purposes. And the same applies to the traveler who intends to reside for a need, not knowing when it will end; he shortens the prayer, as we mentioned. Yes.