Shaykh Abdul-Muhsin Al-Abbaad was asked:

Question:

I was in a country which I am not a resident and then I went to Madinah to study. Do I have the right to shorten the prayer when I go to my original country, knowing that I will go to my original country for three or four days only?

Answer:

“Your original country is your place of abode. If you return to it, even if you stay there for the least amount of time, you are a resident in it. That is because your land is your place of abode and you did not make hijrah from it. As long as you did not make hijrah from it, then it is considered your land. As long as your family is there and you went to your family and visited them, so you are from the people of that land. If you went to study or to any other place other than your original place and you remain there for a long or short time and [stay] over four days, then your ruling is the ruling of the residents. If you reside in other than your land for four days or less, then you shorten the prayer. As for combining, then leaving it off is more deserving in regards to the one who is a resident and is within the boundary of four days or less during the situation of the travel”

[Sharh Sunan Abi Dawood no. 44]

Translated by

Faisal Ibn Abdul Qaadir Ibn Hassan
Abu Sulaymaan