What is the stronger opinion regarding the duration of the dispensation for travel?

Question:
What is the stronger opinion regarding the duration of the dispensation for travel? Is it four days, ten days, or twenty days?

Answer:
Answer: The stronger opinion, which is held by the majority, is that the duration for which one intends to stay, if it is four days or less, is what the majority of scholars hold. This is also what one is certain the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) stayed for while shortening his prayers, as he stayed for four days at al-Mu'alla before the Hajj, and he was shortening his prayers. As for his shortening for fifteen days or fourteen days during the year of the Conquest, that was because he did not intend to stay; they say he did not intend to stay, nor did he resolve to do so. Rather, he stayed to prepare for the expedition against the Hawazin, to prepare for the Battle of Hunayn. He did not stay with the intention of that. And a traveler who stays for a duration he does not know, meaning he stays for a need and does not know when it will end, shortens his prayer. This is the reconciliation of the hadiths.