Fasting - a quick guide,
according to the four Mathaahib
Prepared by: M.
Tahir Farrath([email protected])
Bis-Mil LAAHIR Rohmaanir Rohiim
Wa Nahmaduhuu wa Nusollii 'alaa
Rosuulihil Kariim
The
month of Romadaan before us is a generous and honourable guest. A guest holding
Mercy and Forgiveness, a guest bringing with it goodness and success, a guest
that draws the believer closer to his Lord and the Promised Paradise. It is the
month of solidarity and mutual help, the month of Blessings - free of Shaytaan’s
influence. Yet man is less likely to remove the shackles of the Shayaatiin
from among men themselves. We are advised to be kind and generous towards our
guests, and to be at our best behaviour in their presence. Yet it is not
unusual to hear a number of excuses from people who simply wish to escape
fasting during this Blessed month of Romadaan for the following reasons:
- I did not wake up this morning for Suhuur.
-
I could not wake up because I was occupied well into the early hours.
-
From noon onwards it gets warmer and I find it difficult to fast after that.
-
Romadaan and fasting is Fard but the religion says, if you
can…then do it, if you
can’t…you can’t.
-
My wife is “still” breast-feeding, so she is not fasting.
-
My child is busy with her exams, so she can’t concentrate on her studies and
fast.
-
My stomach rumbles, making me feel weak and miserable.
- Somehow my abdominal ailments seem to surface only in Romadaan.
-
I can’t fast because I just can’t quit my smoking habit.
-
Dad fasts but the rest of us don’t.
-
etc, etc.
Further maladies include the unwillingness to partake in the morning meal and remaining awake for the Fajr prayer nor fasting any missed days before the next Romadaan dawns, such as:
-
I feel too sleepy at work, so I eat something before going to bed and don’t get
up
for Suhuur.
-
My children return to bed after eating at Suhuur, without praying, to
get enough
sleep for school.
- My mother does, I think…but she never told me to pay back my menstrual dues.
-
etc., etc.
The
list goes on, and if this is the case, then what still of Solaah, Zakaah,
seeking knowledge and dealings with one another. However, this necessitates
making known certain aspects of Fasting for Romadaan.
The Fiqh
of Fasting (Part 1)
Prescribed fasting in the month of Romadaan is one of the pillars of the
Islaam. No proof is required to establish it being obligatory and one denying
it goes out of the fold of Islaam. Because it is as obvious as the prescribed
prayer, and in respect of anything so evidently established, both the learned
and the unlettered, the elderly and the young, all stand on an equal footing.
It was declared Fard (an obligatory duty) in the second year of the
Hijeroh upon each and every Mukallaf person (one who is sane and has reached
puberty) capable of carrying it out, and breaking it is not permissible whether
one is a Hanafiy, Hanbaliy, Shaafi’iy or Maalikiy,
except for any of the following reasons:
1. Menstruation and bleeding following childbirth
All four schools of thought concur that fasting is not valid for women
during menstruation and bleeding following childbirth.
2. Illness
All four schools state that if the Saa-im (one who is fasting)
falls ill, or fears the aggravation of his illness, or delay in recovery, he or
she has the option to fast or refrain. Fasting is not incumbent upon that
person. It is a relaxation and not an obligation in this situation. But where
there is likelihood of death or loss of any of the senses, it is obligatory for
the person not to fast and his fasting is not valid.
All four schools say that if a pregnant or nursing woman fears harm for
her own health or that of her child, her fasting is valid though it is
permissible for her to refrain from fasting. If she opts for not fasting, the
schools concur that she is bound to perform its missed days later. They
differ regarding its Fideyah (substitute) and Kaffaaroh (atonement). In this regard the Hanafis
observe that it is not at all obligatory. The Maalikis are of the
opinion that it is obligatory for a nursing woman, not for a pregnant one.
The Hanbalis and the Shaafi’is say that giving the
substitute is obligatory upon a pregnant and a nursing woman only if they fear
danger for the child, but if they fear harm for their own health as well as
that of the child, they are bound to perform the fasts missed only without
being required to give a substitute. The substitute for each day is one Mudd
(the feeding of one needy person), which amounts to feeding one Miskiin
(destitute person).
4. Travel
All four schools add a further condition to these, which is that the
journey should commence before dawn and the traveller should have reached the
point from where the prescribed prayer becomes overdue before dawn. Hence if he
or she commences the journey after the setting in of dawn, it is unlawful for
him or her to break the fast, and if he or she breaks it, its making up for will
be obligatory upon him or her without an atonement. The Shaafi’is add
another condition, which is that the traveller should not be one who generally
travels continuously, such as a driver. Thus if he travels habitually, he is
not entitled to break the fast. In the opinion of all four schools,
breaking the fast is optional and not compulsory. Therefore, a traveller who
fulfils all the conditions has the option of fasting or not fasting. This is
despite the observation of the Hanafis that performing the prescribed
prayer as the shortened form during journey is compulsory and not optional.
5. Acute thirst
There is consensus among all the schools that one suffering from a
malady of acute thirst can break his fast, and if that person can carry out the
missed fasts later, it will be obligatory upon him or her without any
atonement, in the opinion of the all four schools.
They differ with regard to acute hunger, as to whether it is one of the
causes permitting breaking the fast, like thirst, and hold that hunger and
thirst are similar and both make breaking the fast permissible.
6. Elderly
Old people, men and women, in late years of life for whom fasting is harmful
and difficult, can break the prescribed fast, but are required to give a
substitute by feeding a needy person for each prescribed fast day omitted. The
same is true of a sick person who does not hope to recover during the whole
year. Three schools concur upon this rule except the Hanbalis
who say that giving a substitute is recommended and not obligatory.
When the excuse not to fast is no longer present
If the reasons permitting one not to fast no longer exists such as the recovery
of a sick person, maturing of a child, homecoming of a traveller, or
termination of the menses, it is recommended in the view of the Shaafi’is,
to refrain (Imsak) from things that break the fast (Muftiraat) as a token
of respect (for that day). The Hanbalis and the Hanafis
consider refraining as obligatory, but Maalikis consider it neither
obligatory nor recommended.
As mentioned earlier, fasting in the month of Romadaan is obligatory for
each and every sane adult. Hence, fasting is neither obligatory upon an insane
person in the state of insanity nor is it valid if he or she observes it. As
for a child, it is not obligatory upon him or her, although valid if observed
by a Mumayyiz (person at the age of discretion). Also essential for the
validity of the fast are to be a Muslim and to have an Niyyah (intention).
Therefore, as per consensus, neither the fast of a non-Muslim nor the fast of
one who has not formed the intention is acceptable. This is apart from the
aforementioned conditions of freedom from menses, bleeding following
childbirth, illness and travel.
As to a person in an intoxicated or unconscious state, the Shaafi’is
observe that his or her prescribed fast is not valid if he or she is not by his
or her senses for the whole period of the prescribed fast. But if that person
is by his or her senses for a part of this period, the prescribed fast is
valid, although the unconscious person is liable for the missed fasts, whatever
the circumstances, irrespective of whether his or her unconsciousness is
self-induced or forced upon him or her. But the missed fasts are not obligatory
upon an intoxicated person unless he or she is personally responsible for his
or her state.
The Maalikis state that the fast is not valid if the state of
unconsciousness or intoxication persists for the whole or most of the day from
dawn to sunset. But if it covers a half of the day or less and he or she was in
possession of his or her senses at the time of making the intention and did
make it, becoming unconscious or intoxicated later, making up for the
prescribed fasts is not obligatory upon him or her. The time of making the
intention known for the fast in their opinion extends from sunset to dawn.
According to the Hanafis, an unconscious person is exactly like
an insane one in this respect, and their opinion regarding the latter is that
if the insanity lasts through the whole month of Ramadan, it is not obligatory
to make up for the missed fasts. If it covers half of the month, he or she will
fast for the remaining half and make up for the prescribed fasts missed due to
insanity.
The Hanbalis observe that it is obligatory for a person in a
state of intoxication, irrespective of whether these states are self-induced or
forced upon the person, to make up for missed prescribed fasts.
Muftiraat:
Those things from which it is obligatory to refrain during the fast from dawn
to sunset, are:
1. Eating and drinking deliberately
Both eating and drinking (Shurb)
deliberately invalidate the prescribed fast and necessitate making up for the
fasts missed in the opinion of all the schools, although they differ
as to whether “atonement” is also obligatory. The Hanafis require
it, but not the Shaafi’is and the Hanbalis.
A person who eats and drinks by an oversight is neither liable to make up for
missed fasts nor atonement, except for the opinion of the Maalikis, who
only require it to be made up only. Included in drinking is inhaling tobacco
smoke.
2. Sexual intercourse
Deliberate sexual intercourse, invalidates the prescribed fast in the opinion
of all four schools of thought and makes one liable to make it up as a
missed fasts plus an atonement. The atonement is the freeing of a slave, and if
that is not possible, fasting for two consecutive months; if even that is not
possible, then feeding sixty poor persons is required. The Maalikis
allow an option between any one of these. That is, a sane adult may choose
between freeing a slave, fasting or feeding the poor. The other three
schools impose its atonement in the abovementioned order. That is,
releasing a slave is specifically obligatory, and in the event of the
incapacity to fast, it becomes obligatory. If that, too, is not possible,
giving food to the poor becomes obligatory. As for sexual intercourse by
oversight, it does not invalidate the prescribed fast in the opinion of the Hanafis
and Shaafi’is but does according to the Hanbalis and the Maalikis.
There is consensus among the four schools that it invalidates the
prescribed fast if caused deliberately. The Hanbalis say that if the
thin genital discharge emitted while caressing is discharged due to repeated
sensual glances and the like, the prescribed fast will become invalid. All
four schools say that seminal emission will necessitate the making up of
the prescribed fast without atonement.
4. Vomiting
It invalidates the fast if done deliberately, and in the opinion of the Shaafi’is
and Maalikis, it also necessitates the making up of the fast. The Hanafis
state that deliberate vomiting does not break the prescribed fast unless the
quantity vomited fills the mouth. Two views have been narrated from Imam Ahmad
ibn Hanbal. The four schools concur that involuntary
vomiting does not invalidate the prescribed fast.
5. Cupping
While three schools hold the contrary, cupping breaks the fast only in
the opinion of the Hanbalis, who observe that both the cupper and
the patient break their fast.
6. Injection
Injection
(of vitamins or other nutrition) invalidates the prescribed fast and requires the fast
to be made up in the opinion of all four schools.
7. Application of Collyrium
While three schools hold the contrary, the application of collyrium invalidates the fast only in the opinion of the Maalikis, provided it is applied during the day and its taste is felt in the throat.
8. The intention to discontinue the prescribed fast
If
a person intends to discontinue his or her fast and then refrains from doing
so, his or her prescribed fast is considered invalid in the opinion of the Hanbalis;
but not in the opinion of the other three schools.
9. Submerging Head or Body Under Water
All
four schools consider it
inconsequential.
10. State of Impurity Following Sexual Emission
All four schools state that the person's fast remains valid and he or she is not liable to anything.