Question

Assalamu Alaikum,

My question is regarding birthplace which is called watan e asli. I want know that if someone leaves his birthplace and shifts permanently to another city where he has his family i.e. wife, children etc. The law of fiqh is that the current place is now watan e asli for him, so will his birthplace too remain his watan e asli forever even though he has nothing left there where he was born?

Answer

Wa alaykum al-salam,

Watan e asli (permanent city/home) refers to the place where a person was born, or a place where a person marries, or a place where he has taken up permanent residence with the belief that he will now not move from here [al-Durr al-Mukhtar; Bahar e Shari'ah]

It stated in Bahar e Shari'ah with reference to al-Durr al-Mukhtar and Radd al-Muhtar:

If a person’s permanent home (watan e asli) is in one city and he has now made another place his permanent home, then in such a case, if his children and his family are still residing in the first city, then [for this person] both places are regarded as permanent (asli). Otherwise, the first will no longer be regarded as watan e asli, irrespective of whether there is a legal distance of travel (57.5 miles) between both these places or not. 

Thus, if an individual moves out of the city wherein he was born, leaving nothing behind, to another city with his family (wife and children) in order take up permanent residence in the new city, then the new city will become his watan e asli, while the city in which he was born will no longer remain his watan e asli. 

And Allah knows best
Muhammad Kalim
21 Ramadan 1438

Verified by Mufti Zahid Hussain al-Qadiri