The extent to which the rulings for a traveler apply to one who travels for study
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I am from the city of Jeddah, and I am studying at Imam University, the Qassim branch. The course of study requires four years. Am I considered a traveler or a resident? And if I am a traveler, when I return to the city of Jeddah for a visit, am I considered a traveler or a resident there?
According to the opinion of the majority, you are a resident in some respects and not a resident in others. You are a resident regarding the obligation to complete the prayer, the obligation to fast in Ramadan, and limiting the wiping over leather socks to one day and night. You are not a resident regarding the Friday prayer; your presence does not complete the number required for the Friday prayer, it is not valid for you to be the imam in it, and it is not valid for you to be the preacher in it. This is the well-known position among the jurists of the schools of jurisprudence. However, the stronger position is what the Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah held, that people are divided into only two categories: a settled resident and a traveler. A settled resident is one who resides with an absolute residence not restricted by a job or a time period. Accordingly, your residence in Qassim for study, even with the firm intention that you will leave Qassim when the study ends, makes you a traveler according to this opinion. And if you return to your country, you are a resident, because you have returned to your place of settlement. So you must complete the prayer in your country, and you may shorten the prayer in this country where you are residing for study.
As for fasting, we see that you should not delay making up a year of fasting to another year, because that will accumulate on you, and you may be unable to make it up in the future.
According to the opinion of the majority, you are a resident in some respects and not a resident in others. You are a resident regarding the obligation to complete the prayer, the obligation to fast in Ramadan, and limiting the wiping over leather socks to one day and night. You are not a resident regarding the Friday prayer; your presence does not complete the number required for the Friday prayer, it is not valid for you to be the imam in it, and it is not valid for you to be the preacher in it. This is the well-known position among the jurists of the schools of jurisprudence. However, the stronger position is what the Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah held, that people are divided into only two categories: a settled resident and a traveler. A settled resident is one who resides with an absolute residence not restricted by a job or a time period. Accordingly, your residence in Qassim for study, even with the firm intention that you will leave Qassim when the study ends, makes you a traveler according to this opinion. And if you return to your country, you are a resident, because you have returned to your place of settlement. So you must complete the prayer in your country, and you may shorten the prayer in this country where you are residing for study.
As for fasting, we see that you should not delay making up a year of fasting to another year, because that will accumulate on you, and you may be unable to make it up in the future.