Al-Siyaam 2

[bamalli]

Some of the ahkaam (rulings) on fasting
(6) There is the kind of fasting that must be done on consecutive days, like fasting in Ramadaan, or fasting to expiate for killing someone by mistake, divorcing one's wife by zihaar [a jaahili form of divorce in which a man says to his wife, "You are to me as the back of my mother" – Translator], or having intercourse during the day in Ramadaan. Also, one who makes a vow to fast consecutive days must fulfil it.
There is also the other kind of fasting which does not have to be done on consecutive days, such as making up days missed in Ramadaan, fasting ten days if one does not have a sacrifice, fasting for kafaarat yameen (according to the majority), fasting to compensate for violating the conditions of ihraam (according to the most correct opinion), and fasting in fulfilment of a vow in cases where one did not have the intention of fasting consecutive days.
(7) Voluntary fasts make up for any shortfall in obligatory fasts. Examples of voluntary fasts include 'Aashooraa, 'Arafaah, Ayyaam al-Beed [the 13th, 14th and 15th of the hijri months – Translator], Mondays and Thursdays, six days of Shawwaal, and fasting more during Muharram and Sha'baan.
(8) It is not permitted to single out a Friday for fasting (al-Bukhaari, Fath al-Baari, no. 1985), or to fast on a Saturday, unless it is an obligatory fast (reported and classed as hasan by al-Tirmidhi, 3/111) – what is meant is singling it out without a reason. It is not permitted to fast for an entire lifetime, or to fast for two days or more without a break, i.e., to fast two or three days without a break in between.
It is haraam to fast on the two Eid days, or on the Ayyaam al-Tashreeq, which are the 11th, 12th and 13th of Dhoo'l-Hijjah, because these are the days of eating and drinking and remembering Allaah, but it is permissible for the one who does not have a sacrifice to fast them (Ayyaam al-Tashreeq) in Mina.


How the onset of Ramadaan is determined
(9) The onset of Ramadaan is confirmed by the sighting of the new moon, or by the completion of thirty days of Sha'baan. Whoever sees the crescent of the new moon or hears about it from a trustworthy source is obliged to fast.
Using calculations to determine the onset of Ramadaan is bid'ah, because the hadeeth of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) clearly states: "Fast when you see it (the new moon) and break your fast when you see it." If an adult, sane, trustworthy, reliable Muslim who has good eyesight says that he has seen the crescent with his own eyes, then we should take his word for it and act accordingly (i.e., start fasting).

Who is obliged to fast?
(10) Fasting is an obligation on every adult, sane, settled [i.e., not travelling] Muslim who is able to fast and has nothing such as hayd [menstruation] or nifaas [post-natal bleeding] to prevent him or her from doing so.
A person is deemed to have reached adulthood when any one of the following three things occur: emission of semen, whether in a wet dream or otherwise; growth of coarse pubic hair around the private parts; attainment of fifteen years of age. In the case of females, there is a fourth, namely menstruation; when a girl reaches menarche (starts her periods), she is obliged to fast even if she has not yet reached the age of ten.
(11) Children should be instructed to fast at the age of seven, if they are able to, and some scholars said that a child may be smacked at the age of ten if he does not fast, just as in the case of salaah. (See al-Mughni, 3/90). The child will be rewarded for fasting, and the parents will be rewarded for bringing him up properly and guiding him to do good. Al-Rubay' bint Mu'awwidh (may Allaah be pleased with her) said, speaking about Ramadaan when it was made obligatory: "We used to make our children fast, and we would make them a toy made out of wool. If any one of them started to cry for food, we would give them that toy to play with until it was time to break the fast." (al-Bukhaari, Fath, no. 1960). Some people do not think it is important to tell their children to fast; indeed, a child may be enthusiastic about fasting and may be capable of doing it, but his father or mother may tell him not to fast, out of so-called "pity" for him. They do not realize that true pity and compassion consist of making him get used to fasting. Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning): "O you who believe! Ward off from yourselves and your families a Fire (hell) whose fuel is men and stones, over which are (appointed) angels stern (and) severe, who disobey not, (from executing) the Commands they receive from Allaah, but do that which they are commanded." [al-Tahreem 66:6]. Extra attention must be paid to the matter of a girl's fasting when she has just reached maturity, because she may fast when she has her period, out of shyness, and then not make up the fast later.
(12) If a kaafir becomes Muslim, or a child reaches puberty, or an insane person comes to his senses during the day, they should refrain from eating for the rest of the day, because they are now among those who are obliged to fast, but they do not have to make up for the days of Ramadaan that they have missed, because at that time they were not among those who are obliged to fast.
(13) The insane are not responsible for their deeds (their deeds are not being recorded), but if a person is insane at times and sane at other times, he must fast during his periods of sanity, and is excused during his periods of insanity. If he becomes insane during the day, this does not invalidate his fast, just as is the case if someone becomes unconscious because of illness or some other reason, because he had the intention of fasting when he was sane. (Majaalis Shahr Ramadaan by Ibn 'Uthaymeen, p.28). A similar case is the ruling governing epileptics.
(14) If someone dies during Ramadaan, there is no "debt" on him or his heirs with regard to the remaining days of the month.
(15) If someone does not know that it is fard (obligatory) to fast Ramadaan, or that it is haraam to eat or have sexual intercourse during the day in this month, then according to the majority of scholars, this excuse is acceptable, as is also the case for a new convert to Islam, a Muslim living in Daar al-Harb (non-Muslim lands) and a Muslim who grew up among the kuffaar. But a person who grew up among the Muslims and was able to ask questions and find out, has no excuse.

Travellers
(16) For a traveller to be allowed to break his fast, certain conditions must be met. His journey should be lengthy, or else be known as travelling (although there is a well-known difference of opinion among the scholars on this matter), and should go beyond the city and its suburbs. (The majority of scholars say that he should not break his fast before he passes the city limits. They say that a journey has not really begun until a person passes the city limits, and a person who is still in the city is "settled" and "present". Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning): "... So whoever of you sights (the crescent on the first night of) the month (of Ramadaan, i.e., is present at his home), he must observes sawm (fasts) that month..." [al-Baqarah 2:185]. He is not counted as a traveller until he has left the city; if he is still within the city, he is regarded as one who is settled, so he is not permitted to shorten his prayers). His journey should also not be a journey for sinful purposes (according to the majority of scholars), or for the purpose of trying to get out of having to fast.
(17) The traveller is allowed to break his fast, according to the consensus of the ummah, whether he is able to continue fasting or not, and whether is it difficult for him to fast or not. Even if his journey is easy and he has someone to serve him, he is still permitted to break his fast and shorten his prayers. (Majmoo' al-Fataawaa, 25/210).
(18) Whoever is determined to travel in Ramadaan should not have the intention of breaking his fast until he is actually travelling, because something may happen to prevent him from setting out on his journey. (Tafseer al-Qurtubi, 2/278).
The traveller should not break his fast until he has passed beyond the inhabited houses of his town; once he has passed the city limits, he may break his fast. Similarly, if he is flying, once the plane has taken off and has gone beyond the city limits, he may break his fast. If the airport is outside his city, he can break his fast there, but if the airport is within his city or attached to it, he should not break his fast in the airport because he is still inside his own city.
(19) If the sun sets and he breaks his fast on the ground, then the plane takes off and he sees the sun, he does not have to stop eating, because he has already completed his day's fasting, and there is no way to repeat an act of worship that is finished. If the plane takes off before sunset and he wants to complete that day's fasting during the journey, he should not break his fast until the sun has set from wherever he is in the air. The pilot is not permitted to bring the plane down to an altitude from which the sun cannot be seen just for the purposes of breaking the fast, because this would just be a kind of trickery, but if he brings the plane down lower for a genuine reason, and the disk of the sun disappears as a result, then he may break his fast. (From the fataawa of Shaykh Ibn Baaz, issued verbally).
(20) Whoever travels to a place and intends to stay there for more than four days must fast, according to the majority of scholars. So if a person travels to study abroad for a period of months or years, then according to the majority of scholars – including the four imaams – he is regarded as one who is "settled" there and so he has to fast and pray his prayers in full.
If a traveller passes through a city other than his own, he does not have to fast, unless his stay there is longer than four days, in which case he must fast, because the rulings that apply to those who are settled apply also to him. (See Fataawa al-Da'wah by Ibn Baaz, 977).
(21) Whoever begins fasting while he is "settled" then embarks on a journey during the day is allowed to break his fast, because Allaah has made setting out in general a legitimate excuse not to fast. Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning): "... and whoever is ill or on a journey, the same number [of days on which one did not observe sawm must be made up] from other days..." [al-Baqarah 2:185]
(22) A person who habitually travels is permitted not to fast if he has a home to which he returns, such as a courier who travels to serve the interests of the Muslims (and also taxi drivers, pilots and airline employees, even if their travel is daily – but they have to make up the fasts later). The same applies to sailors who have a home on land; but if a sailor has his wife and all he needs with him on the ship, and is constantly travelling, then he is not allowed to break his fast or shorten his prayers. If nomadic Bedouins are travelling from their winter home to their summer home, or vice versa, they are allowed to break their fast and shorten their prayers, but once they have settled in either their summer home or their winter home, they should not break their fast or shorten their prayers, even if they are following their flocks.(See Majmoo' Fataawa Ibn Taymiyah, 25/213).
(23) If a traveller arrives during the day, there is a well-known dispute among the scholars as to whether he should stop eating and drinking. (Majmoo' al-Fataawa, 25/212). But to be on the safe side, he should stop eating and drinking, out of respect for the month, but he has to make the day up later, whether or not he stops eating and drinking after his arrival.
(24) If he starts Ramadaan in one city, then travels to another city where the people started fasting before him or after him, then he should follow the ruling governing the people to whom he has travelled, so he should only end Ramadaan when they end Ramadaan, even if it means that he is fasting for more than thirty days, because the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: "Fast when everyone is fasting, and break your fast when everyone is breaking their fast." If it means that his fast is less than twenty-nine days, he must make it up after Eid, because the hijri month cannot be less than twenty-nine days. (From Fataawa al-Shaykh 'Abd al-'Azeez ibn Baaz: Fataawa al-Siyaam, Daar al-Watan, pp. 15-16)

The sick
(25) In the event of any sickness that makes people feel unwell, a person is allowed not to fast. The basis for this is the aayah (interpretation of the meaning): "... and whoever is ill or on a journey, the same number [of days on which one did not observe sawm must be made up] from other days..." [al-Baqarah 2:185]. But if the ailment is minor, such as a cough or headache, then it is not a reason to break one's fast.
If there is medical proof, or a person knows from his usual experience, or he is certain, that fasting will make his illness worse or delay his recovery, he is permitted to break his fast; indeed, it is disliked (makrooh) for him to fast in such cases. If a person is seriously ill, he does not have to have the intention during the night to fast the following day, even if there is a possibility that he may be well in the morning, because what counts is the present moment.
(26) If fasting will cause unconsciousness, he should break his fast and make the fast up later on. (al-Fataawa, 25/217). If a person falls unconscious during the day and recovers before Maghrib or after, his fast is still valid, so long as he was fasting in the morning; if he is unconscious from Fajr until Maghrib, then according to the majority of scholars his fast is not valid. According to the majority of scholars, it is obligatory for a person who falls unconscious to make up his fasts later on, no matter how long he was unconscious. (Al-Mughni ma'a al-Sharh al-Kabeer, 1/412, 3/32; al-Mawsoo'ah al-Fiqhiyyah al-Kuwaytiyyah, 5/268). Some scholars issued fatwaas to the effect that a person who falls unconscious or takes sleeping pills or receives a general anaesthetic for a genuine reason, and becomes unconscious for three days or less, must make up the fasts later on, because he is regarded as being like one who sleeps; if he is unconscious for more than three days, he does not have to make up the fasts, because he is regarded as being like one who is insane. (From the fataawa of Shaykh 'Abd al-'Azeez ibn Baaz, issued verbally).
(27) If a person feels extreme hunger or thirst, and fears that he may die or that some of his faculties may be irreparably damaged, and has rational grounds for believing this to be so, he may break his fast and make up for it later on, because saving one's life is obligatory. But it is not permissible to break one's fast because of bearable hardship or because one feels tired or is afraid of some imagined illness. People who work in physically demanding jobs are not permitted to break their fast, and they must have the intention at night of fasting the following day. If they cannot stop working and they are afraid that some harm may befall them during the day, or they face some extreme hardship that causes them to break their fast, then they should eat only what is enough to help them bear the hardship, then they should refrain from eating until sunset, and they have to make the fast up later. Workers in physically demanding jobs, such as working with furnaces and smelting metals, should try to change their hours so that they work at night, or take their holidays during Ramadaan, or even take unpaid leave, but if this is not possible, then they should look for another job, where they can combine their religious and worldly duties. "And whoever fears Allaah and keeps his duty to Him, He will make a way for him to get out (from every difficulty). And He will provide him from (sources) he could never imagine." [al-Talaaq 65:2-3 – interpretation of the meaning]. (Fataawa al-Lajnah al-Daa'imah, 10/233, 235)
Students' exams are no excuse for breaking one's fast during Ramadaan, and it is not permissible to obey one's parents in breaking the fast because of having exams, because there is no obedience to any created being if it involves disobedience to the Creator. (Fataawa al-Lajnah al-Daa'imah, 10/241).
(28) The sick person who hopes to recover should wait until he gets better, then make up for the fasts he has missed; he is not allowed just to feed the poor. The person who is suffering from a chronic illness and has no hope of recovery and elderly people who are unable to fast should feed a poor person with half a saa' of the staple food of his country for every day that he has missed. (Half a saa' is roughly equivalent to one and a half kilograms of rice). It is permissible for him to do this all at once, on one day at the end of the month, or to feed one poor person every day. He has to do this by giving actual food, because of the wording of the aayah – he cannot do it by giving money to the poor (Fataawa al-Lajnah al-Daa'imah, 10/198). But he can give money to a trustworthy person or charitable organization to buy food and distribute it to the poor on his behalf.
If a sick person does not fast in Ramadaan, waiting to recover so that he can make the days up later, then he finds out that his sickness is chronic, he has to feed a poor person for every day that he did not fast. (From the fataawa of Shaykh Ibn 'Uthaymeen). If a person is waiting to recover from his illness and hopes to get better, but then dies, there is no "debt" owed by him or his heirs. If a person's sickness is considered to be chronic, so he does not fast and feeds the poor instead, then advances in medical science mean that there is now a cure, which he uses and gets better, he does not have to make up the fasts he has missed, because he did what he had to do at the time. (Fataawa al-Lajnah al-Daa'imah, 10/195)
(29) If a person is sick, then recovers, and is able to make up the missed fasts but does not do so before he dies, then money should be taken from his estate to feed a poor person for every day that he missed. If any of his relatives want to fast on his behalf, then this is OK, because it was reported in al-Saheehayn that the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: "Whoever dies owing some fasts, let his heir fast on his behalf." (From Fataawa al-Lajnah al-Daa'imah, volume on Da'wah, 806).

The elderly
(30) The very elderly who have lost their strength and are getting weaker every day as death approaches, do not have to fast, and they are allowed not to fast so long as fasting would be too difficult for them. Ibn 'Abbaas (may Allaah be pleased with him) used to say, concerning the aayah (interpretation of the meaning), "And as for those who can fast with difficulty (e.g., an old man, etc.), they have (a choice either to fast or) to feed a poor person (for every day)" [al-Baqarah 2:184]: "This has not been abrogated. It refers to the old man and the old woman who cannot fast, so they should feed a poor person for every day." (Al-Bukhaari, Kitaab al-Tafseer, Baab Ayaaman Ma'doodaat...)
Those who have become senile and confused do not have to fast or do anything else, and their family does not have to do anything on their behalf, because such people are no longer counted as responsible. If they are of sound mind sometimes and confused at other times, they have to fast when they are OK and they do not have to fast when they are confused. (See Majaalis Shahr Ramadaan by Ibn 'Uthyameen, p. 28).