Basic Rules of Fasting

BASIC RULES OF FASTING

By: Shaykh Dr./Kahlan bin Nabhan Al Kharousi

Assistant Grand Mufti of the Sultanate

        In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful. All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.

     The Prophet (PBUH) said: “Whoever fasts during Ramadan faithfully and anticipating Allah's reward, will have his previous sins forgiven.”

     Abu Huraira (may Allah be pleased with him) reported Allah's Messenger (PBUH) as saying: “Every (good) deed of the son of Adam will be multiplied in reward, a good deed being rewarded tenfold to seven-hundredfold. Allah, the Exalted said: With the exception of fasting, for it is done for Me and I Will give the reward for it, since one abandons his passion and food for My sake. The faster has got two occasions for joy: one when he breaks his fast and the other when he meets his Lord. Surely the unusual smell of the faster’s mouth is more pleas ant to Allah than the fragrance of musk.”

      

     Definition of Sawm (fasting)

     Fasting (Sawm) literally means abstinence.

     In its religious sense, Fasting (Sawm) is abstinence from all fast-invalidating matters (Mufitirat) from dawn till sunset with the intention (niyyah) of fasting and consciousness of being in a fast.

     Requirements for the validity of fasting:

     There are basically three main components of fasting:

1.                 The intention (niyyah) for fasting. One should make a sincere intention to fast for the sake of Allah every day before dawn. The intention need not be in words, but must be with the sincerity of the heart and mind. Some jurists are of the opinion that the intention can be made once only for the whole month and does not have to be repeated every day. It is; however, better to make intention every day to take full benefit of fasting.

2.                 Abstaining from dawn to sunset from everything that invalidates fasting owing to His saying, Exalted is He: “Eat and drink until the white thread of dawn appears to you distinct from its black thread.” (Cow: 187), and the saying of the Prophet (PBUH): “When the night advances from here and the day retreats from here then the faster has broken his fast.”

3.                 Consciousness of being in a fast”: for if a person should eat or drink while forgetting that he is fasting, his fast would remain valid. The Prophet (PBUH) said: “Whoever eats or drinks while forgetting that he is fasting let him complete his fast, for it is Allah Who has fed him and given him a drink.”

     Who must fast?

     Fasting in the month of Ramadan is obligatory upon every Muslim, male or female, who is adult (i.e. has reached puberty) and sane and who is not sick or on a journey.

     Sickness could be a temporary sickness from which a person expects to be cured soon. Such a person is allowed not to fast during the days of his/her sickness, but he/she must fast later after Ramadan to complete the missed days. Those who are sick with incurable illness and expect no better health, such people are also allowed not to fast but they must pay the fidyah, which is giving a day's meal for each fast missed to a needy person.

     Women in their menses and postnatal bleeding are not allowed to fast, but they must make up later after Ramadan.

     Pregnant women and mothers who are nursing babies, if they find it difficult to fast they can also postpone their fasting to a later time when they are in a better condition.

     Things that invalidate the fast:

     One must avoid doing anything that may render one's fast invalid.

Things that invalidate the fast and require qada’ (making up for these days) are the following:

1.                 Admitting something into the body through an open passage; this involves food, drink, nasal drop, taking any non-nourishing items by mouth or nose. It also involves admitting nutritious things into the body by other means such as taking nutritious injections.

2.                 Deliberately causing oneself to vomit, as by putting a finger in the throat to induce vomiting. However what is expelled naturally from the stomach does not invalidate the fast.

3.                 Sexual intercourse: this also includes deliberate ejaculation out of sexual excitement from kissing, hugging, etc.

4.                 Committing big sins. The Prophet (PBUH) said, “No fast is valid without refraining from whatever is prohibited by Allah.” During fast Muslim should abstain from all false talks and deeds. Should not quarrel, have disputes, indulge in arguments, use bad words, or do anything that is forbidden. One should try to discipline oneself morally and ethically, beside gaining a physical training and discipline. The Prophet (PBUH) said: “Fasting is a shelter, so when anyone of you is fasting he should neither use obscene language nor behave ignorantly; and if anyone quarrels with him or insults him let him say: I am fasting.” The fasting person must be a pleasant person with good spirit and good cheer.

5.                 The beginning of menstrual or post-childbirth bleeding even in the last moment before sunset.

     Things that do not invalidate fasting:

     During fast, the following things are permissible:

1.                 Taking a bath or shower. If water is swallowed involuntarily it will not invalidate the fast. According to most of the jurists swimming is also allowed in fasting, but one should avoid diving, because that will cause the water to go from mouth or nose in the stomach.

2.                 Using perfumes and bukhor (provided that not to breath it in).

3.                 Wearing contact lenses.

4.                 Having blood test.

5.                 Ear drops.

6.                 Using miswak (tooth-stick) and rinsing the mouth or nostrils with water provided it is not overdone (so as to avoid swallowing water).

7.                 Eating and drinking unintentionally, i.e. one forgot that one was fasting. But one must stop as soon as one remembers and should continue one's fast.

8.                 Kissing between husband and wife is allowed in fast, but one should try to avoid it so that one may not do anything further that is forbidden during fast. It is permissible for the faster to taste the food with his tongue in order to know the good food from the bad one and then spit it out, since the forbidden thing is to swallow the stuff.

     Debatable matters

1.                 A person who intentionally gets into dawn in the state of sex-induced ritual impurity (Janabah) must ask Allah for forgiveness and then refast this day after Ramadan. For he was required not to become in dawn without being purified of the ritual impurity, owing to his saying (PBUH): “Whoever becomes in dawn in the state of Janabah becomes in dawn as a non-faster.” However, he shall abstain from food and drink as if in fast.

2.                 Using toothbrush with tooth paste.

3.                 Using eye drops.

4.                 Anyone who eats or drinks assuming that it is still night then discovers that it was already daybreak, has to re-fast-his day according to one opinion, whereas according to another opinion, no re-fasting is required of him, and this is the one mostly in use.

5.                 Anyone who eats or drinks assuming that the sun has set then discovers that it has not, will have to re-fast that day.

Reference:

Tarawih Magazine (Ramadan 1431/August 2010), by Ministry of Endowment and Islamic Affairs, page: 2-4.