A person travels to a country and may stay there for one or two months; is he considered a traveler, or must he complete the prayer?
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The questioner : , O Shaykh, regarding travel: sometimes one travels to foreign countries in pursuit of knowledge and may stay there for a period, for example, one or two months. Is he considered a traveler, or is he required to complete the prayer? Is completion obligatory upon him? Is it permissible for him to combine prayers in this case?
The Shaykh : If you had limited the question to shortening the prayer without combining, we would not have elaborated on the distinction between shortening and combining, where we stated that combining is permissible for the resident as well in some cases. So take the stronger ruling, which is shortening, as it is not permissible except in the state of travel, not residence. So if you changed combining to what? To shortening. We say that any person who leaves his town for another town, with whatever intention, provided the departure is permissible, if he intends to reside in the town he has reached, the rulings of the resident apply to him, regardless of the number of days he intends to stay. The intention of residence is expressed by some of the Salaf, including the Companions and others, by saying, "If he gathers residence" or "if he resolves on residence." This is clarified by its opposite: a man travels to a town to attend to his affairs, as you said, and the responsibility lies with the narrator, he and the knowledge, because we do not know what this knowledge is, so we must be cautious. We say that if he is in a state where, upon arriving in that town, he does not know when he will travel, saying "today and tomorrow, today and tomorrow," he is hesitating. This hesitation is not resolving on residence. So as long as he is hesitating, no matter how long his temporary stay is, he is a traveler. And the opposite is exactly the opposite: as long as he has resolved on residence for a week or two weeks, he takes the ruling of the resident, so shortening is not permissible for him, and it is obligatory for him to complete the prayer. As for combining, the previous details apply. Perhaps the answer has become clear to you: we distinguish between the one who stays in a state of hesitation about when he will travel.
The questioner : ... .
The Shaykh : And the one— I am telling you, I mentioned to you— between the one who is hesitating and the one who has resolved on residence for a week or two weeks, I told you, let alone for a month or two months, or a year or two years. And we hear from some scholars that they issue fatwas that the student who goes to study for three or four years there in the West is issued a fatwa that he is a traveler.
The questioner : They issued them a fatwa permitting breaking the fast in Ramadan and shortening the prayer, even for ten years. Ibn Uthaymeen, in our region of al-Qasim, permits the student who studies in America to shorten the prayer and break the fast in Ramadan, even for ten years.
The Shaykh : If you had limited the question to shortening the prayer without combining, we would not have elaborated on the distinction between shortening and combining, where we stated that combining is permissible for the resident as well in some cases. So take the stronger ruling, which is shortening, as it is not permissible except in the state of travel, not residence. So if you changed combining to what? To shortening. We say that any person who leaves his town for another town, with whatever intention, provided the departure is permissible, if he intends to reside in the town he has reached, the rulings of the resident apply to him, regardless of the number of days he intends to stay. The intention of residence is expressed by some of the Salaf, including the Companions and others, by saying, "If he gathers residence" or "if he resolves on residence." This is clarified by its opposite: a man travels to a town to attend to his affairs, as you said, and the responsibility lies with the narrator, he and the knowledge, because we do not know what this knowledge is, so we must be cautious. We say that if he is in a state where, upon arriving in that town, he does not know when he will travel, saying "today and tomorrow, today and tomorrow," he is hesitating. This hesitation is not resolving on residence. So as long as he is hesitating, no matter how long his temporary stay is, he is a traveler. And the opposite is exactly the opposite: as long as he has resolved on residence for a week or two weeks, he takes the ruling of the resident, so shortening is not permissible for him, and it is obligatory for him to complete the prayer. As for combining, the previous details apply. Perhaps the answer has become clear to you: we distinguish between the one who stays in a state of hesitation about when he will travel.
The questioner : ... .
The Shaykh : And the one— I am telling you, I mentioned to you— between the one who is hesitating and the one who has resolved on residence for a week or two weeks, I told you, let alone for a month or two months, or a year or two years. And we hear from some scholars that they issue fatwas that the student who goes to study for three or four years there in the West is issued a fatwa that he is a traveler.
The questioner : They issued them a fatwa permitting breaking the fast in Ramadan and shortening the prayer, even for ten years. Ibn Uthaymeen, in our region of al-Qasim, permits the student who studies in America to shorten the prayer and break the fast in Ramadan, even for ten years.