Prayer: What are the prayer rules for us and our children when visiting our re-adopted watan after years away?

Practical Laws of Islam as per the teachings of Imam Khamenei

Prayer: What are the prayer rules for us and our children when visiting our re-adopted watan after years away?

English:

Question #684:

My wife and I were born in the city of Kashmar. After my employment in a government office, I moved to the city of Neyshabour, while our parents still live in our birthplace. At the beginning of our move to Neyshabour, we abandoned our original watan (Kashmar) (i.e. we ceased to consider it as our watan anymore), but fifteen years later we changed our mind. Please answer the following questions:

i. What is our duty with respect to our prayers whenever we visit our parents and stay with them for several days?

ii. What is the duty of our children, who were born in our current place of residence (Neyshabour) and now they are ritually mature, during our visit to our parents’ town (Kashmar) and in the course of our several days’ stay in Kashmar?

Answer #684:

After you abandon your original watan (Kashmar), it is not considered as your watan any more unless you return to live there again permanently or for a long time (even if it is for a few months every year) or without specifying a period, provided that you provide the necessities of life there or stay there for a while after intending to live there permanently. As far as your children are concerned, this city is not ruled as their watan, and the rules of a traveler apply to all of you in that city.

-Imam Khamenei, Practical Laws of Islam, Importance and Conditions of Prayer