Does A Person Who Moves To A City To Work But Does Not Take His Family There Establish His Prayers As A Traveler Or A Resident

Does a person who moves to a city to work but does not take his family there establish his prayers as a traveler or a resident?

The place where a person is born or works, earns livelihood, resides with his family and intends to stay permanently is called watan al-asli . Watan al-asli changes only by adopting another place as one’s watan al-asli.

When a person migrates to and resides in another place by bringing his wife and children together, that place will turn into his watan al-asli. His previous residential area will not be his watan al-asli anymore. If he comes to that place (to his former hometown) afterwards as a guest (for less than 15 days), he establishes four-rakat fardh prayers as two rakats. Because the Prophet Muhammad (saw) and his Companions established four-rakat fardh prayers as two rakats when they visited Mecca after settling in Medina (Bayhaqi, al-Sunan al-Kubra, III, 212-213).

The places where a person resides in for a long time due to temporary reasons such as education, work, and military service without thinking to leave the place he normally lives, or decides to settle or where a person intends to stay for fifteen days or more while traveling are called watan al-iqamah. Prayers are established as resident in watan al-iqamah. According to Hanafis, if one will stay at a place for less than 15 days and his accommodation place is not his own property or he did not rent that place, he may establish his prayers as a safari by shortening them (see. Haddad, al-Jawhara, I, 104; Ibn Abidin, Radd al-Muhtar, II, 614; Bilmen, Ilmihal, p. 163).

Source: Presidency Of Religious Affairs The Turkey, High Board of Religious Affairs FATWA