Shortening the Prayer for University Students and Breaking the Fast in Ramadan
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Your Eminence! What is the ruling on shortening the prayer for university students during their period of study? And does the dispensation of breaking the fast in Ramadan apply to them if they have the right to shorten the prayer, or not?
This issue is subject to extensive disagreement. Scholars have differed on it with more than twenty opinions. This is because there are no clear and explicit texts specifying the details. If there are no clear and explicit texts specifying the details, it is preferable to keep the texts in their generality. As long as a person is traveling, he is a traveler and may avail himself of all the dispensations of travel, even if he stays for a purpose that he knows will end after a specific period, or for a purpose that will end and he will return, but he does not know when it will end.
So the correct view is: The ruling for both categories is the same. One who stays for a purpose that will end and then return to his country is a traveler, whether he specifies the duration or not, because there is no text stating that specifying the duration terminates the state of travel.
But I say: Those who stay for study must pray in congregation if they are in an Islamic country. It is not permissible for them to be absent from it on the basis that they are travelers, because the obligation of congregational prayer and Friday prayer does not fall off a traveler, as long as he is in a country where Friday prayer is held. However, if they miss the prayer, or if they are in a place where there are no mosques around them and they pray, they may shorten the prayer, as we see that this is the correct opinion.And whoever said: They do not have the right to shorten the prayer, and the evidence for this is that they are still travelers, having left their families and journeying across the earth seeking the bounty of Allah.
As for fasting in Ramadan, they may break their fast and postpone it to a time when the day is shorter or cooler. However, postponing it until after the second Ramadan is something I am hesitant about, because if they do that, the months will accumulate on them, and they may be unable to make up the fasts in the future. So I see that it is necessary for them to fast Ramadan before the second Ramadan arrives.
This issue is subject to extensive disagreement. Scholars have differed on it with more than twenty opinions. This is because there are no clear and explicit texts specifying the details. If there are no clear and explicit texts specifying the details, it is preferable to keep the texts in their generality. As long as a person is traveling, he is a traveler and may avail himself of all the dispensations of travel, even if he stays for a purpose that he knows will end after a specific period, or for a purpose that will end and he will return, but he does not know when it will end.
So the correct view is: The ruling for both categories is the same. One who stays for a purpose that will end and then return to his country is a traveler, whether he specifies the duration or not, because there is no text stating that specifying the duration terminates the state of travel.
But I say: Those who stay for study must pray in congregation if they are in an Islamic country. It is not permissible for them to be absent from it on the basis that they are travelers, because the obligation of congregational prayer and Friday prayer does not fall off a traveler, as long as he is in a country where Friday prayer is held. However, if they miss the prayer, or if they are in a place where there are no mosques around them and they pray, they may shorten the prayer, as we see that this is the correct opinion.And whoever said: They do not have the right to shorten the prayer, and the evidence for this is that they are still travelers, having left their families and journeying across the earth seeking the bounty of Allah.
As for fasting in Ramadan, they may break their fast and postpone it to a time when the day is shorter or cooler. However, postponing it until after the second Ramadan is something I am hesitant about, because if they do that, the months will accumulate on them, and they may be unable to make up the fasts in the future. So I see that it is necessary for them to fast Ramadan before the second Ramadan arrives.