A person travels to a country and may stay there for a month or two; is he considered a traveler, or must he complete the prayer?
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The questioner : Regarding the question about travel; sometimes one travels to foreign countries in pursuit of knowledge, and may stay there for a period, for example, a month or two; is he considered a traveler, or must he complete the prayer, or is completion obligatory upon him; is it permissible for him to combine prayers in this case?
The Shaykh : If you had limited the question to shortening the prayer without combining, we would not have elaborated on the distinction between shortening and combining; since we said that combining is permissible for the resident as well in some cases. So take the stronger ruling, which is shortening, which is not permissible except in the case of travel without residence. If you changed combining to what? To shortening. We say: Any person who leaves his town for another town, whatever his intention for leaving, provided it is permissible; if he intends to reside in the town he is heading to, the rulings of the resident apply to him, regardless of the number of days he intends to stay. The intention of residence is expressed by some of the Salaf, from the Companions and others, who say: if he gathers residence or resolves on residence. This is clarified by its opposite: a man travels to a town to attend to an interest of his, as you said, and the responsibility lies with the narrator, and it is knowledge; because we do not know what this knowledge is; therefore we need to be cautious, so we say: if he is in a state where, upon arriving in that town, he does not know when he will travel; he says today and tomorrow, today and tomorrow; he is hesitating; this hesitation is not resolving on residence. As long as he is hesitating, no matter how long his travel lasts, his temporary residence is that of a traveler, and the opposite is exactly the opposite: as long as he has resolved on residence for a week or two, he takes the ruling of the resident, so shortening is not permissible for him and completing is obligatory. As for combining, the previous details apply. Perhaps the answer has become clear to you: we distinguish between the one who resides with hesitation about when he will travel.
The questioner : Hesitating.
The Shaykh : And the one— I am telling you, I mentioned both to you— between the one who is hesitating and the one who has resolved on residence and intended to reside for a week or two, I told you, let alone a month or two, or a year or two. And we hear from some scholars that they issue fatwas that the student who goes to study for three or four years there in the West is issued a fatwa that he is a traveler...
The questioner : They issued them a fatwa permitting breaking the fast in Ramadan and shortening the prayer, even for ten years.
The Shaykh : Who is he?
The questioner : Ibn Uthaymeen, we have him in al-Qasim, it is permissible for the student who studies in America to shorten the prayer and break the fast in Ramadan, even for ten years.
The Shaykh : Yes, this is a problem.
The Shaykh : If you had limited the question to shortening the prayer without combining, we would not have elaborated on the distinction between shortening and combining; since we said that combining is permissible for the resident as well in some cases. So take the stronger ruling, which is shortening, which is not permissible except in the case of travel without residence. If you changed combining to what? To shortening. We say: Any person who leaves his town for another town, whatever his intention for leaving, provided it is permissible; if he intends to reside in the town he is heading to, the rulings of the resident apply to him, regardless of the number of days he intends to stay. The intention of residence is expressed by some of the Salaf, from the Companions and others, who say: if he gathers residence or resolves on residence. This is clarified by its opposite: a man travels to a town to attend to an interest of his, as you said, and the responsibility lies with the narrator, and it is knowledge; because we do not know what this knowledge is; therefore we need to be cautious, so we say: if he is in a state where, upon arriving in that town, he does not know when he will travel; he says today and tomorrow, today and tomorrow; he is hesitating; this hesitation is not resolving on residence. As long as he is hesitating, no matter how long his travel lasts, his temporary residence is that of a traveler, and the opposite is exactly the opposite: as long as he has resolved on residence for a week or two, he takes the ruling of the resident, so shortening is not permissible for him and completing is obligatory. As for combining, the previous details apply. Perhaps the answer has become clear to you: we distinguish between the one who resides with hesitation about when he will travel.
The questioner : Hesitating.
The Shaykh : And the one— I am telling you, I mentioned both to you— between the one who is hesitating and the one who has resolved on residence and intended to reside for a week or two, I told you, let alone a month or two, or a year or two. And we hear from some scholars that they issue fatwas that the student who goes to study for three or four years there in the West is issued a fatwa that he is a traveler...
The questioner : They issued them a fatwa permitting breaking the fast in Ramadan and shortening the prayer, even for ten years.
The Shaykh : Who is he?
The questioner : Ibn Uthaymeen, we have him in al-Qasim, it is permissible for the student who studies in America to shorten the prayer and break the fast in Ramadan, even for ten years.
The Shaykh : Yes, this is a problem.
Source
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