If studying medicine is a collective obligation (fard kifayah), does it become an individual obligation (fard ayn) for students who have chosen to specialize in it, and is a medical student sinful if they neglect their studies?

Studying medicine and other sciences that the nation needs is a communal obligation (fard kifaya) because these disciplines sustain bodies and livelihoods. Their absence would cause great harm to people. A communal obligation is that which is emphatically required from the collective body of responsible individuals, and if some fulfill it, the sin is lifted from the rest.

Jurists have differed on whether a communal obligation becomes an individual obligation (fard ayn) once one embarks on it. The more sound opinion is that it does not become an individual obligation except in specific matters like jihad. This does not include other sciences and crafts, such as studying medicine. Thus, if a person abandons it after commencing it, they are not sinful.