RAMADHAN
Ramadan is the 9th month in Islamic calendar / Hijri Calendar. The length of the Month varies between 29 and 30 days depending on the sighting of the Shawwal Moon which leads to the much awaited Islamic festival of Eid ul Fitr on the 1st of Shawwal. Ramadan is one of the Five Pillars of Islam and during this holy month, Al-Quran was first revealed to the Prophet Mohammed (S.A.W.). The word ‘Ramadan’ is extracted from Arabic word ‘Ramad / Ramida’ which means scorching heat or drought. So the word Ramadan represents abstinence from eating anything and drinking water from dawn till dusk.
1. FASTING RAMADHAN
FASTING RAMADAN
(The month of the fast is the best of months, and it is one of the distinctive features of this Community (Umma); that is, as now practiced, a fact not contradicted by the word of Allah Most High,
“Fasting is prescribed for you, as it was prescribed for those before you” (Quran 2:183),
the resemblance is interpreted as referring to fasting without other qualification, not to its amount and time. Fasting Ramadan is one of the pillars of Islam by scholarly consensus (ijma’). Bukhari and Muslim relate that the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) said,
“Islam is built upon five: testifying there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the messenger of Allah, performing the prayer, giving zakat, making the pilgrimage to the House [Kaaba], and fasting Ramadan.”)
WHO MUST FAST RAMADAN
Fasting Ramadan is obligatory for:
a) every Muslim (male or female) who:
b) has reached puberty;
c) is sane;
d) is capable of bearing the fast;
e) and if female, is not in the period of menstruation or postnatal bleeding (nifas).
THOSE NOT OBLIGED TO FAST RAMADAN
The following are not required to fast:
1. a non-Muslim meaning that we do not ask him to, nor would it be valid if he did (N: though he is punished in the next life for not doing so»;
2. a child;
3. someone insane;
4. someone who fasting exhausts because of advanced years or having an illness from which he is unlikely to recover.
None of the above-mentioned is obliged to fast or to make up missed fast-days, though someone who misses a fast because of (4) above must give 0.51 liters of food (for each fast-day he misses.
The following are not required to fast, though they are obliged to make up fast-days missed (making up, according to our school, meaning that one fasts a single day for each obligatory fast-day missed):
1. those who are ill (the illness that permits not fasting being that which fasting would worsen, delay recovery from, or cause one considerable harm with; the same dispensation applying to someone who needs to take medicine during the day that breaks the fast and that be cannot delay taking until night);
2. those who are travelling
3. a person who has left Islam (murtad)
4. or a woman who is in her menses or period of postnatal bleeding.
If the ill person or traveler take it upon themselves to fast, it is valid, though a fast by someone who has left Islam, or a woman in menstruation or period of postnatal bleeding is not valid.
When not fasting on a day of Ramadan, if a non-Muslim becomes a Muslim, an insane person regains his sanity, or a child reaches puberty, it is recommended but not obligatory that they fast the rest of that day and make up the fast later. A child who reaches puberty While fasting on a day of Ramadan is obliged to fast the rest of the day, and is recommended to make it up.
A woman whose period ends during a day of Ramadan is recommended to fast the rest of the day and is obliged to make up the fast (and the fast-days prior to it missed during her period or postnatal bleeding).
If the testimony of a witness (that the new moon has been seen during the previous night) is made during a day (that was initially) uncertain as to whether it was the first of Ramadan, then it is obligatory (for people) to fast the rest of the day and to make it up later.
A child of seven is ordered to fast, and at ten is beaten for not fasting (with the reservations).
Excessive hunger or thirst, meaning likely to cause death or illness, are legitimate excuses not to fast, even when they occur on a day one has already begun to fast, as soon as the fast becomes a hardship.
It is permissible not to fast when travelling, even when the intention to fast has been made the night before, provided that the journey is at least 81 km. 150 mi. one way, and that one leaves town before dawn. If one leaves after dawn, one is not entitled to omit the fast. It is preferable for travelers not to fast if fasting would harm them, though If not, then fasting is better
A woman who is breast-feeding a baby or is pregnant and apprehends harm to herself or her child may omit the fast and make it up later, though if she omits it because of fear (of harm) for the child alone (not for herself) then she must give 0.51 liters of food (in charity for each day missed, as an expiation (in addition to making up each day).
SIGHTING THE NEW MOON
Fasting Ramadan is only obligatory when the new moon of Ramadan is sighted (i.e. in respect to the person who sees it, though for those who do not see it, it only becomes obligatory when the sighting is established by the testimony of an upright witness. If it is too overcast to be seen, then (the preceding lunar month of) Sha’ban is presumed to last for thirty days, after which people begin fasting Ramadan. If the new moon is sighted during the day (before noon on the last of the thirty days), it is considered as belonging to the following night (and the ruling for that day does not change).
If the moon is seen in one city but not another, then if the two are close (i.e. in the same region), the ruling (that the new month has come) holds for both. But if the two are not close, then not (i.e. the people far from the place where it was seen are not obligated to fast), not close meaning in different regions, such as the Hijaz, Iraq, and Egypt
The testimony of a single witness (that the new moon has been seen) is sufficient to establish that the month of Ramadan has come, provided the witness is upright, male, and responsible for the duties of Islam (which excludes boys who have reached the age of discernment but not puberty).
If a person knows by calculations of lunar movements or the positions of the stars that the next day is Ramadan, fasting is nevertheless not obligatory (for him or the public), though it is permissible for him alone.
If it is difficult to learn which month it is, for someone imprisoned or the like (such as someone being held in a dark place who cannot tell night from day, or someone who does not know when Ramadan has come because of being in a land without habitations or people who know when it is), then such a person is obliged to reckon Ramadan as best he can and to fast it. Such a fast is valid if it remains unknown as to whether the month fasted actually coincided with Ramadan, or if it did coincide with it, or if the month fasted occurred after it, though if the month fasted was before Ramadan, it is not valid.
THE CONDITIONS OF A VALID FAST
The conditions of a valid fast are:
a) the intention;
b) and refraining from things which break the fast.
THE INTENTION
One must make the intention to fast for each day one fasts. If the intended fast is obligatory, then the intention must:
a) be specific (as to the fast being for Ramadan, a vow, an expiation, or whatever);
b) and be made in the night prior to dawn. (For Hanafis. the intention for a day of Ramadan (but not a makeup) is valid if made before midway between true dawn and sunset of the day itself (al-Hadiyya al-‘Ala’iyya (y4), 171).
The optimal way is to intend (in one’s heart) to fast the following day as a current performance of the obligation of Ramadan in the present year for Allah Most High (fast and of Ramadan being unanimously considered as integral to the intention, though scholars differ concerning the obligatoriness of intending it as a current performance, an obligation, or for Allah Most High).
One’s intention is valid if on the night before a day of uncertainty (as to whether it will be the first day of Ramadan), someone one trusts but who does not have all the qualifications of an acceptable witness informs one of having seen the new moon, and relying on this information one intends to fast the next day to fulfill the obligation of Ramadan, and the next day turns out to be Ramadan. But one’s fast is not valid if one makes the intention without anyone having informed one of sighting the new moon, no matter whether one’s intention is firm or whether undecided, as when one intends that if the following day is Ramadan, one will fast, but if not, one will not.
One’s fast is valid if on the night before 30 Ramadan, one intends that if the following day is of Ramadan, one will fast, but if not, one will not, and then the next day is of Ramadan (since it already is Ramadan, and the initial presumption is that it will remain so.
Non Obligatory fasts are valid by merely making the intention to fast before noon (without needing to specify the type of fast).
THINGS WHICH INVALIDATE THE FAST
Each of the following things invalidates the day’s fast when one knows they are unlawful (during an obligatory fast) and remembers one is fasting (but does them deliberately anyway); and they obligate one to both make up the fast-day later and fast the remainder of that day:
1. eating;
2. drinking (and smoking (though not if there is some smoke in the air that one unintentionally inhales»;
3. taking snuff (up the nose that reaches the sinuses, a ruling likewise applicable to oil or water preparations);
4. suppositories (vaginal or anal);
5. pouring (water, oil, or other) into the ears until it reaches the eardrum;
6. inserting a finger or something else into the anus or vagina further than the area disclosed when one squats (to relieve oneself);
7. anything that enters the body cavity, whether stabbed into it (such as a knife or spear thrust which penetrates it) or whether medicine (though intramuscular or intravenous injections of medicine do not break one’s fast);
8. vomiting (if it is deliberate and one is able to prevent it, though if nausea overcomes one, vomiting does not break one’s fast);
9. sexual intercourse (if deliberate, even if there is no orgasm), or orgasm from stroking a non-genital region or from masturbation (no matter whether such orgasm is produced by unlawful means, like one’s own hand, or whether by lawful means, such as the hand of one’s wife);
10. using so much water to rinse out the nose and mouth (in ablution (wudu) or the purificatory bath (ghusl) that some reaches the stomach (i.e. if any reaches the body cavity because of using an abundance of water, it breaks the fast, though if some water slips down when an abundance has not been used, it does not break
11. swallowing saliva that has left the mouth, such as when threading a needle and one moistens the end of the thread, and then remoistens it, swallowing some of the saliva that the thread had been previously wetted with;
12. swallowing saliva that has been qualitatively altered, such as when threading a needle and one wets the end, and some dye from the thread remains in the mouth and is swallowed (so people who use toothpaste should take care to eliminate it from the mouth before dawn on fast days);
13. swallowing saliva that has been made impure by contact with filth (najasa), such as when one’s mouth is bloodied and one spits out the saliva until it is clear and colorless, but neglects to wash one’s mouth out (before swallowing the saliva, which breaks the fast because the mouth is still affected by impurity (and water is necessary to purify it;
14. allowing phlegm or mucus at the back of the mouth to be swallowed when one could have spit them out (though in the Hanafi school this does not break the fast, even if intentional (alHadiyya al-‘Ala’iyya (y4);
15. or to continue making love, even for a moment, after dawn has arrived
THE CRITERION FOR THINGS WHICH INVALIDATE THE FAST
The criterion as to whether something invalidates the fast is (N: whether it comes under anyone of three headings):
1. a substance, even if not much, that reaches the body cavity through an open passageway (substance excluding odors, and open excluding anything else, such as absorption through pores). (The deliberate introduction of anything besides air or saliva into the body cavity breaks the fast, though if the person fasting does so absentmindedly or under compulsion, it does not break it);
2. sexual intercourse (meaning inserting the head of the penis into the vagina);
3. or orgasm, whether as the result of touching (such as kissing, contact, lying between the other’s thighs, or something else), or because of masturbation;
provided that one is aware that these acts are unlawful and that one remembers one is fasting (and provided they are done deliberately and voluntarily).
THE EXPIATION FOR VITIATING A FAST-DAY BY SEXUAL INTERCOURSE
In addition to making up the fast, an expiation is obligatory for fast-days of Ramadan that are (deliberately) vitiated by sexual intercourse. (The legal occasion of the offense is the particular day of fasting, so that if it were committed on two separate days, two separate expiations would be necessary, though if it were committed twice in one day there would be only one expiation.)
The expiation consists of freeing a sound Muslim slave, or if not possible, then to fast the days of two consecutive months. (In our school the expiation is only for sexual intercourse, though the Hanafis hold it is obligatory for vitiating the fast for other reasons as well.) If this is not possible, then the expiration is to feed sixty unfortunates (0.51 liters of food (to each unfortunate). If one is unable to do this, the expiation remains as an unperformed obligation upon the person concerned.
The woman who is made love to is not obliged to expiate it.
THINGS THAT DO NOT BREAK THE FAST
The fast remains valid if any of the things which break it are done absentmindedly (not remembering the fast), out of ignorance (that doing the things which break the fast are unlawful, whether this is due to being a new Muslim, or to being born and raised far from Islamic scholars), or under compulsion. Nor is it broken by:
1. involuntary vomiting;
2. having a wet dream, or orgasm as a result of thinking or looking at something (unless the latter two usually cause orgasm, in which case one has broken one’s fast by not avoiding them);
3. some water reaching the body cavity as a result of rinsing out the mouth or nose, provided not much water was used;
4. saliva carrying down some food particles from between one’s teeth, provided this is after having cleaned between them (after eating, by using a toothpick or the like between them), if one is unable to spit them out;
5. gathering saliva in the mouth and swallowing it, bringing saliva as far forward as the tongue (but not to the lips) and then swallowing it, or coughing up phlegm from the throat and spitting it out;
6. the arrival of dawn when there is food in one’s mouth which one spits out;
7. the arrival of dawn when one is lovemaking and one immediately disengages;
8. or when sleeps all day or has lost consciousness, provided one regains consciousness for at least a moment of the day.
EATING OR DRINKING WHEN UNCERTAIN OF THE TIME OF DAWN OR SUNSET
Making up the fast-day is obligatory if one eats, thinking it is night, but then finds that it is day; or eats, presuming (but uncertain) that the sun has set, and the question (as to whether one ate before sunset or after) continues and remains unresolved).
It is not obligatory to make up a fast-day on which one ate on the presumption that dawn had not yet come, and the question (as to what the case was) remains unresolved (since the initial certainty was that it was night).
INVOLUNTARY ACTS WHICH INVALIDATE THE FAST
A fast-day is invalidated by:
1. insanity, even for a moment;
2. being unconscious the entire day;
3. or the appearance of menstrual or postnatal flow.
(The insane person is not obliged to make up such a day’s fast, while the others are.)
RECOMMENDED MEASURES WHILE FASTING
A pre dawn meal is recommended, even if it is slight or consists of water alone (and the time for it begins from the middle of the night onwards). It is best to delay it to just before dawn, as long as one does not apprehend dawn’s arrival while still eating (though when one does not know when dawn is, it is not the Sunnah to this delay it).
It is recommended in Ramadan:
1. to be especially generous (in giving charity);
2. to improve one’s relations with family and relatives;
3. to recite the Koran much;
4. to spend periods of spiritual retreat (i’tikaf) in the mosque, especially during the last ten days of Ramadan;
5. to break the fast of others after sunset, even if only with water (because of the hadith related by Tirmidhi that the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) said,
“He who breaks another’s fast earns the same reward as the one who fasted without diminishing the latter’s reward in the slightest”);
6. and if in a state of major ritual impurity Ganaba), to perform the purificatory bath (ghusl) before dawn.
It is recommended to avoid:
1. slander, lying, and foul language (which are always unlawful, but even worse when fasting);
2. the pleasures of the senses (i.e. those that do not break the fast, such as smelling fragrant plants or looking at them, because of the gratification therein which is incompatible with the wisdom of the fast, even though they are permissible when not fasting) (and while it is recommended not to use perfume during a fast day, it does not hurt to use it on the night before);
3. and medicinal bloodletting (or blood donating) or cupping (as these, like the fast, weaken a person and could have a synergistic debilitating effect).
If someone abuses one while fasting, one should say to him, “1 am fasting.”
THINGS THAT ARE UNLAWFUL OR OFFENSIVE WHILE FASTING
It is unlawful to kiss (or embrace, or pet with the hand) on fast-days for those it sexually arouses.
It is unlawful not to eat or drink anything (wisal) between fast-days, though it is not unlawful if one has some water, even a mouthful, before dawn.
It is offensive during the fast to taste food, or to use a tooth stick after noon.
It is not offensive during the fast to line the eyes with kohl (4) or to bathe.
It is offensive for anyone (whether fasting or not) to keep silent all day until night (when there is no need to) (need including the necessity of restraining the tongue from useless talking.
MAKING UP MISSED FAST·DAYS
Someone obliged to make up some fast days of Ramadan is recommended to do so consecutively and immediately.
It is not permissible for a person with some unperformed fast-days of Ramadan to delay making them up until the next Ramadan unless there is an excuse (for delaying). If one delays until the next Ramadan, one must pay 0.51 liters of food) (to the poor) for each fast-day missed, in addition to making it up. If making up a fast-day is delayed until a second Ramadan comes, then one must pay double this amount for each day. And so forth: every year that passes upon an unfulfilled fast-day adds 0.51 liters to be paid for that day. (But if one’s excuse for not performing them persists, such as travel or illness, then it is permissible for one to delay making them up as long as the excuse is present, even if it lasts for years. One is not obliged to pay the penalty fee for this delay even if several Ramadhans go by, but is merely obliged to make up the missed fast days).
If someone dies with unperformed fast-days which he could have fasted but did not, then each fast-day is paid for (by the responsible family member) with 0.51 liters of food (or he can fast for him (in place of paying for each day). (As for someone who dies after two Ramadans elapse upon his missed fast-days, each fast is paid for with 1.02 liters (n: double the above) of food (N: or the family member can both fast a day and pay 0.51 liters for each day (Let the family member may fast in the deceased’s stead for the initial nonperformance of the fast-day, though he cannot fast in place of paying the 0.51 liters of food for each year that making up a fast-day was delayed before the deceased’s death, because this is the legal expiation for the delay). As for someone who died before his excuse (for not fasting) ceased to exist, nothing at all is obligatory for him).)
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