Is there a specific time limit for residence?
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The questioner : In our case... regarding the issue of travel and shortening the prayer, determining the time of residence; meaning, is there a... specific limit?
The Shaykh: No.
The questioner : Or is it indefinite?
The Shaykh : The ruling in this second question is the same as the answer to the first question.
The questioner : ...for a period of three months, shorter than three months?
The Shaykh : I tell you: look at your situation there. Your situation there, do you feel you are traveling or residing? And you know your situation; meaning, there is a great difference between a person who leaves Kuwait for any nearby or distant town with the intention of pursuing business, so he does not reside there for the entire period, he is "accustomed to it"... and he may be more comfortable there than in his home town. His state is that of a resident, not that of a traveler, and so on.
And we say this - also - for the previous reason; which is that there are no hadiths that clarify when one becomes a resident? There are many opinions; some people say: if he intends to reside for four days, that is enough to enter the ruling of a resident. Some people say: no; fifteen or sixteen days according to the Hanafis and others. And they all argue with specific incidents that occurred. So the most that is likely - for example - is sixteen days. Why, brother, sixteen? Why not seventeen? He tells you: because the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) resided in the Battle of such-and-such after he fought and Allah gave him victory, and he remained there preparing matters for the Muslim state. He remained for sixteen days while shortening the prayer. Well; how do I know that in another battle or in the same battle, it was necessary for him to stay another day? So after that, on the seventeenth day, he becomes a resident?! We have no evidence, as I said regarding the hadith of Anas that he used to shorten the prayer if he traveled a distance of three farsakh; it does not mean that he did not shorten it for less than that; because this cannot be comprehended.
Likewise, that Companion - and it is Ibn Abbas as I think - mentioned that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) resided for sixteen days while shortening the prayer; this does not mean that if it was necessary for him in another incident to reside for one or two more days... especially since it came in "Sunan Abu Dawud" from the hadith of Imran ibn Husayn that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) resided for twenty days in the Battle of Tabuk while shortening the prayer. But it is not permissible for me to argue with this hadith; because in its chain there is a man named "Ali ibn Zayd ibn Jad'an," and he is weak in hadith; so I do not permit myself to use a weak hadith as evidence. But all that is in the matter is that I am reassured by it, being reassured by my saying that it is possible that another incident occurred for the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) in which he resided longer than he resided in the first incident; so on this basis, residence is not - also - restricted to days, but what restricts it, whether he is still a traveler or has become a resident, is his personal situation. This is it.
The Shaykh: No.
The questioner : Or is it indefinite?
The Shaykh : The ruling in this second question is the same as the answer to the first question.
The questioner : ...for a period of three months, shorter than three months?
The Shaykh : I tell you: look at your situation there. Your situation there, do you feel you are traveling or residing? And you know your situation; meaning, there is a great difference between a person who leaves Kuwait for any nearby or distant town with the intention of pursuing business, so he does not reside there for the entire period, he is "accustomed to it"... and he may be more comfortable there than in his home town. His state is that of a resident, not that of a traveler, and so on.
And we say this - also - for the previous reason; which is that there are no hadiths that clarify when one becomes a resident? There are many opinions; some people say: if he intends to reside for four days, that is enough to enter the ruling of a resident. Some people say: no; fifteen or sixteen days according to the Hanafis and others. And they all argue with specific incidents that occurred. So the most that is likely - for example - is sixteen days. Why, brother, sixteen? Why not seventeen? He tells you: because the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) resided in the Battle of such-and-such after he fought and Allah gave him victory, and he remained there preparing matters for the Muslim state. He remained for sixteen days while shortening the prayer. Well; how do I know that in another battle or in the same battle, it was necessary for him to stay another day? So after that, on the seventeenth day, he becomes a resident?! We have no evidence, as I said regarding the hadith of Anas that he used to shorten the prayer if he traveled a distance of three farsakh; it does not mean that he did not shorten it for less than that; because this cannot be comprehended.
Likewise, that Companion - and it is Ibn Abbas as I think - mentioned that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) resided for sixteen days while shortening the prayer; this does not mean that if it was necessary for him in another incident to reside for one or two more days... especially since it came in "Sunan Abu Dawud" from the hadith of Imran ibn Husayn that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) resided for twenty days in the Battle of Tabuk while shortening the prayer. But it is not permissible for me to argue with this hadith; because in its chain there is a man named "Ali ibn Zayd ibn Jad'an," and he is weak in hadith; so I do not permit myself to use a weak hadith as evidence. But all that is in the matter is that I am reassured by it, being reassured by my saying that it is possible that another incident occurred for the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) in which he resided longer than he resided in the first incident; so on this basis, residence is not - also - restricted to days, but what restricts it, whether he is still a traveler or has become a resident, is his personal situation. This is it.
Source
www.al-albany.com
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