Is the Sunnah and the preferred practice in jihad to combine and shorten the prayers together, or to shorten them only?

The questioner : In jihad, there are fronts where one stays in one place for some of the time. Is the Sunnah and the preferred practice to combine and shorten the prayers together, or to shorten them only?

The Shaykh : This depends on what is most likely for the leader of the detachment or this group. If it is his strong belief that he is staying put and not moving around—and this is what I believe, even though I have not been tested with the good of being present in those places—this is what I think is very difficult. If it is his strong belief that he is aware of being there and staying, he prays the prayer of a resident; otherwise, he prays shortened. This is what I believe, and I am far from those places as I said. Because it is established from 'Abdullah ibn 'Umar ibn al-Khattab that they stayed for months in some of the lands in those directions, Khurasan and the like, for six months, and they were praying the prayer of travelers. So the general rule is that they remain under the ruling of a traveler. Yes. But we should point out something here: this ruling differs from the situation between the Arabs and the Afghans; because some of the Afghans may be from the people of those lands.

The questioner : The distances are large, meaning, it could be from the nearest part of Khurasan, for example.

The Shaykh : No problem. Whoever is from the people of those lands has his own ruling, and whoever has left his land—also—such that he takes the ruling of a traveler, then his ruling is the ruling of these Arabs.

The questioner : And if the duration is not specified, meaning... long?

The Shaykh : No, this duration is not a condition.

The questioner: Yes.

The Shaykh: Yes ... .

The questioner : What is the ruling on wiping over the leather socks...?