A man left his home seeking knowledge and settled in Unayzah, making it his residence, so he completed his prayers there.
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The questioner : He says: O honorable Shaykh, inform me about a matter I do not know and you know. A man left his home seeking knowledge and settled in Unayzah, making it his residence, so he completed his prayers there. Then it occurred to him to leave after several years for another region to teach the people there about good, other than his original hometown, meaning: the place of his birth from which he departed, and he does not intend to settle in either the first or the second country where he has stayed. My question, O honorableThe Shaykh : Does he shorten his prayers now in Unayzah due to the change in his intention? And if he reaches his hometown or another town, does he shorten his prayers? May Allah bestow His grace upon you and treat you with kindness?
The Shaykh : Do I not have the right to say: I do not know? He says: It is hidden from me, and you know it. What do I know that I know? I can say: I do not know, but it appears to me, and Allah knows best, in this problem: that he is a resident in Unayzah and he must consider himself a resident there until he travels to the other country. So if he says to us: Now I do not decide which country is my homeland, we say: Then every country you are in is your homeland, and you must complete your prayers. So, as long as he had decided to stay in Unayzah, we say: Complete your prayers until you depart from it. If he departs to another country and says: Now I do not intend to settle in the other countries, nor to have absolute residence, and I do not want to have a specific country, even my place of birth. We say: Then the whole earth is your country, and you do not have the right to take the dispensation of travel except between what? Between the two towns. As for in the two towns, you are a resident and you must complete your prayers, and you must not take the dispensation of travel except between the two towns, as long as you are traveling from this one to this one, you are a traveler, yes.
The Shaykh : Do I not have the right to say: I do not know? He says: It is hidden from me, and you know it. What do I know that I know? I can say: I do not know, but it appears to me, and Allah knows best, in this problem: that he is a resident in Unayzah and he must consider himself a resident there until he travels to the other country. So if he says to us: Now I do not decide which country is my homeland, we say: Then every country you are in is your homeland, and you must complete your prayers. So, as long as he had decided to stay in Unayzah, we say: Complete your prayers until you depart from it. If he departs to another country and says: Now I do not intend to settle in the other countries, nor to have absolute residence, and I do not want to have a specific country, even my place of birth. We say: Then the whole earth is your country, and you do not have the right to take the dispensation of travel except between what? Between the two towns. As for in the two towns, you are a resident and you must complete your prayers, and you must not take the dispensation of travel except between the two towns, as long as you are traveling from this one to this one, you are a traveler, yes.