Answered by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
My question is in regards to muslim students in college living in the West, particularly in the U.S.A. who live in dorms more than 48 miles from home. Many students travel away from home more than 48 miles to go to college/university. They reside in dorms at their college for the year and visit home for holidays and occasional weekends. When they are at school (more than 15 days), would they be considered musafir and shorten their salaat? When they visit home on holidays or occasional weekends and stay there for less than 15 days, would they be considered travelers and shorten their salaat or do they complete full salaat because they are at ‘home’. Is the ruling different for boys and girls with regards to returning home to visit and shortening of salaat? Can a student make intention to go off to college and return for the coming weekend (knowing that this may be highly unlikely and that they are more likely to stay at college more than 15 days) in order to maintain musafir status at college.
I apologize if my questions are confusing… the main point that I am trying to understand is: If a student is living in the dorms at college (more than 48 miles away), and upon returning home to visit (for less than 15 days), would they be considered musafir and do qasr salaat, OR would they do full salaat (because it is their ‘home’… along with doing full salaat at college because they are there more than 15 days at a time).
Jazakallah Khayr for this service.
Walaikum assalam wa rahmatullah,
I pray this finds you in the best of health and spirits.
In such a case, the town where they are studying would be considered a “place of residence” whenever they intend to stay there 15 days or more without initiating a Shariah-journey (48 miles or more from city limits). When this is the case, they would pray like a resident.
Their home would remain their “permanent residence,” and they would pray in full when visiting home.
When intending to stay less than 15 days before initiating a Shariah-journey, one would be a non-resident. It would be necessary to shorten when praying alone. When praying in congregation one would pray in full when the imam is a resident (i.e. praying in full).
This doesn’t reduce one’s reward in any way. The ulema tell us that reward is to the extent of following Allah and His Messenger (Allah bless him and give him peace), not to the extent of our effort.
[ref: Shurunbulali, Maraqi al-Falah]
As for “false intentions,” they are of no consequence: intention is one’s firm resolve. Wherever one’s firm resolve lies, thats one’s intention.
Please search the SunniPath QA (http://qa.sunnipath.com) for related answers.
And Allah alone gives success.
Faraz Rabbani