Ruling on taking the dispensations of travel for one who is in a state of permanent travel

Question:
The first message in this episode was sent to the program from Jeddah by one of the brother listeners. The sender is Ruwaidar Ghulam, a Pakistani. He says: I listen to your program often, and I have some questions that puzzle me. I hope you will be kind enough to answer them. I am a truck driver and I am constantly traveling. My question is: First, regarding my prayer, should I shorten it, or should I pray it at its proper time?

Answer:
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Praise be to Allah, and may Allah send blessings and peace upon the Messenger of Allah, and upon his family and his Companions, and upon those who follow his guidance.
As for what follows:
It is prescribed for you to shorten the prayer, each one at its proper time, if you are staying in a place while traveling. You pray Dhuhr as two rak'ahs, Asr as two rak'ahs, and Isha as two rak'ahs. As for Maghrib, it is prayed as it is, three rak'ahs, and is not shortened. Likewise, Fajr is prayed as two rak'ahs as it is, and is not shortened. If you are staying in a place while traveling for rest, you pray each prayer at its proper time in your lodging. If that is difficult for you, you may combine the two; combine Maghrib with Isha, and Dhuhr with Asr.
As for if you are on the move while traveling and you set out after the sun has passed its zenith, it is better to combine Dhuhr and Asr as a combination of advancing (jam' taqdim). Likewise, if you set out from your lodging in the travel area after the sun has set, you combine Maghrib and Isha as a combination of advancing, advancing Isha to be prayed with Maghrib.
As for if you set out from your lodging before Dhuhr, it is better to delay Dhuhr and combine it with Asr as a combination of delaying (jam' ta'khir) so that you can continue your journey.
And if you set out from your lodging in the travel area before sunset, you delay Maghrib and combine it with Isha as a combination of delaying. This is how the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) used to do, as narrated by Ibn Abbas and others.
As for if you are staying, and you arrived in the morning and you do not set out until the night, and you arrived in a place in the morning, it is better to pray Dhuhr at its proper time and Asr at its proper time.
Likewise, if you are staying for the night, you pray Maghrib at its proper time and Isha at its proper time. If you combine them, there is no blame on you. If you combine Dhuhr and Asr while staying, and Maghrib and Isha while staying, at the time of one of them, there is nothing wrong with it. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) combined prayers while staying in Tabuk (peace and blessings be upon him). And in Mina during the Farewell Pilgrimage, he did not combine on the days of Mina; he prayed each prayer at its proper time while staying in Mina (peace and blessings be upon him).
As for if you are in your home city, the one in which you are a resident, you do not shorten and you do not combine. You pray four rak'ahs with the people if you are in the city that you have made your residence. For example, if you are in Jeddah, in Medina, in Damascus, in Baghdad, or in any place, in the city where you are a resident, you pray four rak'ahs and do not combine. You pray with the people in the mosques. When you set out from the city as a traveler in your vehicle and you leave the buildings, passing beyond the buildings, then at that time you begin to shorten and combine after you have passed beyond the buildings of your place of residence. You leave the city and pass beyond the buildings of the city, you shorten and combine if you wish. You leave Riyadh and pass beyond the buildings of Riyadh, you shorten and combine if you wish. You leave Cairo or Damascus and pass beyond the buildings, you shorten and combine. Likewise from Baghdad, likewise from Lahore, and likewise from any country, when you leave its buildings and reach the open land or the desert, you act according to the dispensations of travel: shortening, combining, breaking the fast in Ramadan, and wiping over the leather socks for three days and nights. These are the rulings of travel.
As for as long as you are in the city where you are a resident, or it is your home and homeland, you do not combine in it and you do not shorten. Rather, you pray four rak'ahs with the people, and each prayer at its proper time with the people. And you wipe over the leather socks for one day and one night. You do not combine and you do not break the fast in Ramadan while you are a resident in the city, unless you are passing through it and not residing in it. If you are passing through it as a traveler and you stay in it for a day or two as a traveler, or three or four days, there is nothing wrong with breaking the fast and shortening if you are a group. As for if you are alone, you do not shorten; you pray four rak'ahs with the people. If you intend in the city to stay for more than four days, if you intend to, you pray four rak'ahs with the people and do not break the fast in Ramadan; because at that time you have become in the status of residents by this intention, according to the majority of the scholars of knowledge. Yes.

The presenter: May Allah reward you with good.