Saved on this device only — nothing is sent anywhere.
Watan (homeland, fiqh)
وَطَن
Watan, lexically, is a dwelling or the place where a person stays and settles; the folds of sheep, cattle and camels are also called watan. Technically it is the place where a person lives and settles, whether or not he was born there. The mahalla, the quarter where a people lives, is narrower than watan. 12
The kinds of watan, by the rules that attach to them: the original homeland (watan asli), the residence homeland (watan iqama), and the dwelling (watan sukna). 2
The original homeland: for the Hanafis, the place of a person's birth, marriage or settling; it is also called the family homeland or the homeland of nature. For the Shafi'is and Hanbalis it is the place where a person lives without leaving it in summer or winter except for a need; the Hanbalis in the sounder view add a town where he has a wife or married, on the saying of 'Uthman that whoever marries in a town should pray the prayer of the resident; one report of Ahmad includes a town where he has people or livestock. The Malikis define it as the place of a person's residence with the intention of staying for ever, and the place of a wife he has consummated with, however rarely he lives there. 23
The residence homeland (iqama): for the Hanafis, the place a person goes to with the intention of staying for a period that cancels the rules of travel; the other jurists agree on the meaning and differ on the period. 3
The dwelling (sukna): for the Hanafis, a place where a person means to stay for less than the period that cancels travel. 3
Conditions: the original homeland needs permanent building in the customary way (Malikis, Shafi'is, Hanbalis); the Hanafis treat the place of birth, marriage or settling as the original homeland. The residence homeland needs the intention to stay, the relevant period, the taking of the place, its fitness, and that it is not the person's original homeland; the dwelling needs no intention of staying and no actual stay for the period, and must not be an original homeland. 34
What ends a homeland: for the Hanafis an original homeland ends only by moving to another with the family and leaving the old one; the Hanbalis hold it does not end by taking up another original homeland; a man with wives in two towns has two original homelands, which the Hanafis, Malikis and Hanbalis agree. 4 A residence homeland ends by an original homeland and by travel, and a dwelling ends by an original homeland, a residence and another dwelling. 45
Rules attached to the homeland: shortening the prayer, combining prayers, breaking the Ramadan fast, the sacrifice, and the Friday and festival prayers. The resident in his original or residence homeland does not shorten the prayer, and one returning to his original homeland must complete the prayer from the moment he enters. 5 For travellers the majority allow combining the noon and afternoon prayers and the sunset and night prayers, while the Hanafis deny this. 5 A traveller may break the Ramadan fast while travelling; if the travel ends in the day he must abstain for the rest of the day and make up the days later. 56 On the sacrifice: the Hanafis hold it obligatory and require residence for the obligation, while the majority hold it a sunna and do not require residence. 6
Friday prayer: a traveller who ends his journey before the Friday prayer is held becomes obliged to attend it; the journey ends on entry into the original homeland in every case, and after that by residence in the residence homeland on its conditions. 6 The festival prayers: obligatory for the Hanafis, a strong sunna for the Malikis and Shafi'is, and a communal obligation (fard kifaya) for the Hanbalis; the majority hold that residence or settlement is a condition of the obligation, against the Shafi'is, so the traveller is not obliged in the majority view. 6 Transfer of zakat: all agree that the people of the town where the wealth and the payer are have the first claim; where the payer and the wealth are in different towns, the jurists differ on whether the town of the wealth or the town of the payer governs. 67
A woman of the abode of war entering the abode of Islam: if she enters on safe conduct and marries a Muslim or a dhimmi, she becomes a dhimmi, since by residence she follows her husband, who is settled in the abode of Islam for ever. 7
Banishing a stranger who commits adultery: the Shafi'is and Hanbalis hold that a stranger who commits adultery is exiled to a place other than his homeland; the Malikis say that if he commits it on arriving in the town he is imprisoned there, and if after settling with his people he is exiled to another town. 7 Emigration from the homeland by those in the abode of war: its cases differ, some obliged, some recommended, others not obliged; detailed under emigration. 7
Settling in the abode of war: a Muslim may not travel from the abode of Islam to the abode of war to settle there for ever. Travel to the abode of war for trade is disputed between forbidden, disliked and permitted, if he is not compelled to a forbidden act or an omitted duty; travel for a lawful purpose, such as ransoming a Muslim or carrying a message, is permitted. 7
