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As for “residence,” it is the opposite of travel. People fall into two categories: residents and travellers. Accordingly, the rulings governing people in the Quran and Sunnah fall into one of these two categories: those applicable to residents and those applicable to travellers. Allah Most High says:

“On the day you travel and on the day you stay.”

Thus, He distinguishes between a day of travel and a day of residence. Allah Most High has made fasting obligatory and said:

“But whoever among you is ill or on a journey, then an equal number of other days.”

Whoever is neither ill nor travelling is therefore a healthy resident. Hence the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

“Allah has relieved the traveller of fasting and half the prayer.”

Whoever has not been relieved of fasting and half the prayer is therefore a resident.

During his Hajj, the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, stayed in Mecca for four days, then spent six days at Minā, Muzdalifah and Arafāt, shortening the prayers along with his Companions. This indicates that they were travellers. During the campaign for the conquest of Mecca, he stayed for nineteen days, shortening the prayers, and he stayed at Tabūk for twenty days, shortening the prayers.

It is clear from ordinary experience that what he was doing in Mecca and Tabūk could not have been completed in three or four days, such that one might say: