Do university students shorten the prayer as long as they are far from their home country?

The questioner : Honorable Shaykh, we heard a fatwa attributed to you stating that university students shorten the prayer as long as they are far from their home country.

The Shaykh : What is the truth of that? This is correct. We hold that travel is not restricted by a duration, and that a person remains a traveler from his home country for work, and when it ends he returns to his home country, whether he specified the duration or not. The Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him) affirmed this position in the *Fatawa* in the chapter on the Friday prayer, and he said that dividing people into residents, residents, and travelers is a division with no basis. People are either residents with their rulings, or travelers with the rulings of travelers. Likewise, Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him) mentioned this in the chapter on the Hereafter, and he said that there is no evidence for the condition of four days, or for a condition of less than four days, and that one who intends to stay more than four days does not shorten. He said there is no evidence for that. The position taken by these two Shaykhs was also taken by Muhammad Rashid Rida, the editor of *Al-Manar* magazine, and likewise by our Shaykh Abd al-Rahman ibn Sa'di (may Allah have mercy on him), who said there is no evidence for limiting the duration to four days. Likewise, our Shaykh Abd al-Aziz ibn Baz answered in a magazine of the Islamic University that this is a strong position indicated by strong hadiths, but he holds that the more cautious course is to complete the prayer if the stay exceeds four days. I recently heard him issue a fatwa to that effect, meaning that if the stay exceeds four days, the person completes the prayer. However, one who examines the evidence finds that there is no evidence for this position, because the most they cite is that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) arrived in Makkah on the fourth day of Dhul-Hijjah and shortened the prayer until he completed the Hajj. They said that because he shortened during the four days, that indicates the permissibility of shortening.
So what exceeds that, he does not shorten in it. The truth is that this hadith is evidence against the restriction for one who examines it. Was the Messenger of Allah's (peace and blessings be upon him) arrival in Makkah on the fourth day a matter of intention or a matter of coincidence? Coincidence means that it happened to coincide that his arrival was on the fourth day. Did the Messenger intend not to arrive except on the fourth day, or was this what coincided in his journey? This is what coincided in his journey, and what happens by coincidence is not considered legislation.
And we know that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) knew that some of the pilgrims would arrive in Makkah before the fourth day, is that not so? Some pilgrims arrive on the third day, the second, the first, in Dhul-Qa'dah, and perhaps in Shawwal. And yet the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) did not say to his Ummah: "Whoever arrives before the fourth day must complete the prayer." So when he did not say that, despite the need for it, it is known that completing the prayer when the days exceed four is not obligatory. For this reason, Abu Hanifah (may Allah have mercy on him) held that the duration is fifteen days, and Ibn Abbas held that the duration is nineteen days. But the correct view is that there is no limit, and that days that occurred by coincidence do not serve as evidence for a limit. For this reason, Abdullah ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) remained in Azerbaijan for six months shortening the prayer. The snow detained them. And we know that the snow cannot melt within four days; rather, the longer the winter lasts, the stronger the snow becomes. And we know that Abdullah ibn Umar knew that the snow would not melt until the end of the winter.
So the important point is that there is disagreement among the scholars on this issue. The four schools of jurisprudence differed: the school of Imam Ahmad and Malik holds that if one intends to stay more than four days, he completes the prayer, and the four days include the day of entry and the day of exit. The school of al-Shafi'i is the same, except that it does not count the days of exit, entry, and exit. The school of Abu Hanifah is fifteen days. The schools contain more than ten positions, which al-Nawawi (may Allah have mercy on him) mentioned in his book *Sharh al-Nihayah*.