Ramadan fasting rules
in the hadith the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam mentioned that Islam is based on five matters those are very important there are pillars in our religion and he countered fasting the month of Ramadan as one of them in order to achieve performing this practice performing this act of worship as Allah ordered one must acquire how his fast is valid and how it is not what are the conditions that must be met in order for once fasting to be valid as a wise there is a difference between the one who is praying properly and the one who is imitating the praying people when in fact his prayer is invalid there is a difference between the one who is fasting properly and the one who is imitating others while his fast is not valid for that reason the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam emphasized on the importance of acquiring the knowledge by which one can make sure that his act of worship is as allah ordered the prophets of allah re wa sallam said saalu camara ie to MU Neos only pray exactly as you saw me praying meaning in that way not in the way that you think it’s right or correct and you won’t be able to know if you are praying properly or fasting properly unless you acquire the obligatory knowledge pertaining to these acts of worship once the Prophet sallallahu wasallam in his mosque when a man came in prayed then he came to the prophet sallallaahu on he will tell him to greet him the Prophet said to him go back and pray because he haven’t prayed so he went back and did the same when he came back to the Prophet the Prophet repeated the same thing go back and pray because you haven’t prayed meaning in fact you haven’t prayed then he went back did the same then he came back to the prophet and the Prophet said to him go back and pray because he haven’t prayed then this companion said to the Prophet o Messenger of Allah I swear by Allah who sent you truly to us that I don’t know how to pray except in the way you saw me praying then the prophet sallallaahu hani wa salim did not say to him because you have a good intention he came to the mosque so Allah will accept it from you never rather he taught him how to pray from the beginning of the prayer till the end of the prayer that shows clearly that ignorance is not an excuse for one to perform an act of worship in an invalid way then he is expecting for the act of worship to be valid or accepted by Allah razajin never that’s why you need to learn and the first thing would like to mention about something pertaining to fasting which is very important how to determine the beginning and the end of fasting because first of all you know that you must fast the second you need to learn when to start fasting the month of Ramadhan and when to end your fast so it’s not up to you to pick any 30 days whenever you want and you start fasting these days even the prophets of allah ma li wa sallam made it very clear in the Hadees when he said do not start fasting the month of ramadan a day two days before its commencement start when you see the crescent and and you’re fast when you see the Crescent if it is cloudy meaning the vision is not clean you can’t see the Crescent then continue the count to thirty days so the prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam forbade us from starting fasting the month of Ramadhan one day or two days before as a precautionary matter as some ignorant people may do some people when Ramadan is about to start in the common day or two they start fasting as if they have started the month of Ramadan and they say we want to take a precautionary measure the prophets forbade us from doing so rather the prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam guarded us to the correct way by which we start we commenced our fasting and we end our fast he said start fasting the month of Ramadan when you see the Crescent so after the 29th day of sha ban all Muslims around the world will be observing the western horizon were the sunsets around that area if the moon will be cited should be cited in that location in the western horizon it will not last for long the moon so it might be seen during the first 30 minutes if there is any chance to so Muslims around the world will be taken high locations where the vision is so clean and they monitor the western horizon if they see the Crescent they start fasting the following day as the first day of Ramadan if they don’t see it they continue the count to 30 days and the day after will be the first day of Ramadan now this method was practiced by the prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam by the companions by the followers of the Companions and the followers of the followers and those are a cell of the predecessors then the successors who came after them all the scholars of Islam from the time of the Prophet up to our days have practiced this methodology in this way they did not give any attention to astronomy or the calculations or the mathematicians who might through their calculations determine the birth of the new moon the birth of the new moon determining the birth of the new moon is one thing and seeing the crescent after sunset is another thing two different things so the astronomers and the mathematicians would make some calculations and based on that they say for instance the birth of the new moon will be on that day at this hour for instance they might say Tuesday at 10 o’clock in the morning Tuesday at 10 o’clock in the morning that’s the birth of the new moon that doesn’t mean Ramadan has started by the birth of the new moon on how can we know when Ramadan starts the Prophet made it very clean it’s after sunset and after the birth of the new moon there is a probability depending on the region on earth for people to see the crescent the Prophet said when you see the crescent after sunset in a region then the following day is the beginning of Ramadan if you don’t see it then continue Shaban 30 days very simple way anyone can practice it so if you are living in a desert and you want to know when does the month to start when does it end you can follow this practice which is very simple very easy however the calculations of the astronomers are very complicated and not too many people know about these calculations that’s why the prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam did not relate this practice with the complicated calculations of the astronomers in fact the Prophet made it very clear in the Hadees when he said we are a nation that do not rely on calculations and writing special writings to determine the beginning and the end of the month the month is either 29 days or 30 days every lunar month is either 29 days or 30 days there is no twenty-eight and there is no 31 29 or 30 29 or City after the sunset of the 29th day of the month Muslims observe the western horizon if they see the Crescent they know this month is 29 days if they don’t see it they continue this month 30 days and the day after will be the first day of the following lunar month very simple practice and also this hadith which is narrated by al-bukhari the one that I have just mentioned and I might have been humble and others clearly shows that the Prophet was away of the calculations of the astronomers yet did not give any regard to these calculations it doesn’t make any difference if along the centuries they have developed the telescope or the calculations they used to make their own writings now they have computers this doesn’t make any difference because all what they get to remember this they get to the birth of the new moon the birth and once NASA you know NASA she’s very popular was asked about the confirmation of seeing the crescent after sunset in this region of that region and they said we cannot tell we don’t know they know by their calculations the birth of the new moon but whether it’s going to be seen after sunset or not that depends on what the clear vision and seeing the crescent it’s very simple so even they make their own calculations and they say the birth of the new moon is on that day at this time still we have to wait till after sunset and try to see the crescent and that depends on the condition of the weather that’s why in the hadith the Prophet mentioned if it’s cloudy if there is dust in the horizon and other obstacles that would prevent one from seeing the Crescent then they need to continue the count to thirty days and listen to this carefully as well when the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam is telling us if it is cloudy then continue sharper in 30 days the Prophet did not deny the fact that the moon is there in the horizon but the vision is blocked the vision is blocked so even if the astronomers say yet the moon is there yet that does not determine the beginning of the month what determines the beginning of the month is visually seeing the Crescent in the horizon very the prophet sallallaahu awning Acela made it very clean so when people now talk about they say technology whatever here technology does not nullify the rules of the religion when the Prophet is telling us that the month is determined by seeing the Crescent or continuing the count to 30 days this rule will not change will remain till the day of judgment that’s why if you open Sahih al-bukhari Muslim at telomere zina Sahib in measure I had all these books of Hadees you will find the whole chapter about determining the beginning and the end of the lunar month which is this way that the prophet mentioned so when some ignorant people say these days we can no longer rely on this method and instead we rely on the calculations of the astronomers as if they are saying all these are Hadees in these books have expired we can no longer rely on them and that is against the religion that is actually a call for people to stay away from the rules of the religion when in our religion we know that if a lady gets divorced or her husband passes away she has to wait for a period of time before she can remarry and that is called the waiting period that is mentioned in the Quran in the Hadees and by scholarly consensus one cannot say now yeah this rule was at that time because they didn’t know how to determine if she is pregnant or not but now since they have discovered a device by which she can find out if she is pregnant or not now we’re gonna leave out method or this waiting period we just omitted they can’t do that so even if they have discovered a device by which they know if she’s pregnant or not this does not nullify the rule of the religion now they developed the telescope this does not manifold of the religion they discovered computer and software that can calculate the birth of the new mood for each month and they tell you after 10 years or 20 years what’s their expectations about the birth of the new moon based on this calculation yet this does not determine the beginning and the end of the month the Prophet made it very clear that we do not rely on the calculations of the astronomers to determine the beginning and the end of the month so if someone is saying no we rely on their calculations he is opposing the Prophet what we can do in fact we can rely on the calculations of the astronomers for what purpose to put an estimate for lunar calendar you can do that so based on the calculations Ramadan is expected to be between this day and that day so if I have to organize something around this occasion I can rely on these calculations to get the estimate but how to determine the beginning and the end of the month that’s the only way that we mentioned observing the Crescent if we see it the following there will be the first day of Ramadan if we don’t see it we continue sharpen 30 days even in Lebanon Derral after they are a lifter in Lebanon in Egypt and other Islamic countries they already announced to Muslims to observe the crescent after the sunset of Tuesday if they see the Crescent they will announce what is there from a bond if they don’t see it they will continue Shaban 30 days alhamdulillah most Islamic countries are still practicing this practice the second thing I would like to talk about is who must fast Ramadan the Muslim who is pubescent and sane and able to fast must fast the month of Ramadan when we say saying we know that the insane is not obligated to fast Ramadan simply because he’s not accountable pubescent because if he is not pubescent he is not accountable however once the child whether a boy or a girl reaches 7 lunar years and his body can tolerate fasting then his parents must order him to fast from their age but the child is not obligated to fast because he is not accountable one becomes accountable if he is pubescent and sane that one we say he is accountable so the Muslim that becomes P besan and saying he is accountant if he’s not the best and he’s not a can tell if he’s a child if he is insane he’s not accountable so the one who must fast is the one who is Muslim saying pubescent and able to fast when we talk about the ability to fast we talk about two kinds of abilities here first physical ability and second religious ability when we talk about physical ability we see if his body can tolerate fasting because a person may be unable to fast because he is very old if he were to fast at this old age he might be harmed in that case he is not obligated to fast so what does he do in a state if able he would pay an expiation for each day the expiration according to Imam Shafi aid of the Allah man who is the fill of two average sized hands cup together filled with the most common staple food of that region for instance in our country the most common staple food could be wheat if you go to Indonesia the most common staple food is rice in Ethiopia in some regions the most common staple food is corn so it depends so he would pay every size hands cut together a field with the most common staple food of that region for each day according to imam abu hanifa audial long run what is equivalent to two meals lunch and dinner he can pain as food or he can pay as money the value of these two meals now you might say he has hard for me to find someone who is poor and to give him every day let us say wheat with this amount he can pay money instead you can pay money instead and according to him ever be honey for all your long animal you can pay at the beginning of the month for the whole month that’s according to email a bee honey full of your lovin and that makes it easier for people instead of doing it day by day but according to Irish FA love your love honor the expiation is paid daily is paid day so for each day separate another one who might be sick and because of these sickness he cannot fast he is not obligated to fast however this sickness is also of two types a sickness that is most likely to remain with this person till death so he’s not hoping to recover from this sickness so he cannot fast now and he cannot fast later he would pay that mention expiation the other type of sickness is temporary sickness now he is very sick now he is in need of doing an operation of the hospital he’s going to be sick for five days but later on he can fast so he might not here fast for five days while he’s sick and he will make him up later and he doesn’t have to pay an expiation in that case only to make him up later as a lot higher lesson so he are we talking about the physical ability if we talk about the religious ability we are referring to two types of woman who are not allowed to fast Islamically although physically might be able to fast but Islamic need they cannot the menstruating woman and the woman that is in her postpartum bleeding period while the lady is bleeding she is not allowed to fast and her fast is invalid she cannot fast her fast is invalid however if for instance a lady has her period one hour before sunset and she was fasting because she had a period one hour before sunset her fast for that day has been invalidated so she has to make it up this thing however she doesn’t have to eat or drink within that hour before sunset but she cannot at the same time withhold from eating and drinking with the intention of fasting because she is not fasting islamically her fast is invalid so the menstruating lady and the lady that is in her postpartum bleeding period are not allowed it’s Haram for them too fast and it’s invalid and they still have to make them up now some people might be able to manage their fast by taking the medicine before dawn and after sunset then they have to do that some people who might be experiencing a kind of sickness and they need to take medicine every day in Ramadan if they take the medicine before dawn then after sunset they won’t be harmed then those must fast as well if they need to take the medicine during the day they are not obligated to fast and based on the previous case that we’ve mentioned if this sickness is most likely to stay with them they pay an expiation for each day if it’s temporary sickness they break the fast and they make him up later if there is a lady that knows of her habit that the blood will stop before dawn by one hour let us say she has a habit pattern for her period and she knows from her pattern that the blood will stop before dawn let us say by one hour and she was in her last day so she knows tomorrow she would have finished her period before dawn she is allowed in this case that’s what she needs to do she would put the intention to faster following them if she slaves and wakes up in the morning and she sees no blood according to her usual habit and pattern her fast is valid for that day she would be ordered to have the purification Abbas for what reason for praying for praying so if a lady doesn’t pray let us say and the period to stop before dawn by half an hour or 15 minutes she needs to put the intention to fast the following day even if she doesn’t pray she still must fast this is an obligation and this is an obligation but some ignorant people if they see a lady without a scarf and she does not pray but in Ramadan she fasts it’s good to fast that’s an obligation she’s fulfilling an obligation but because she doesn’t pray well I also believe they discourage her by saying you don’t pray and you wanna fast don’t fast they say what’s this mentality if a person is making two mistakes and another person is making one mistake or two wrong things the other one is making only one wrong thing they said in why you do only one wrong thing – – instead of encouraging him to do the right thing those are the devil’s amongst the human beings those are the devil’s amongst human beings they see a lady that prays but she doesn’t wear the scarf and they tell her how could you pray and you don’t wear the scarf don’t rain instead of saying Masha Allah may Allah bless you and Hum Dil allow you are praying be steadfast and inshallah one day he’ll put on the scarf and the luck to encourage her they discourage her by telling her to stop praying when I also will know at the time of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam they mentioned him a person who used to pray however he used to steal as well they know of someone who would pray regularly however he steals they told the Prophet this person is praying however he steals the Prophet didn’t say to him don’t pray rather he said to them his prayer will stop him from staining a short period after that he stopped stealing he repented to Allah as erosion because prayer is a main pillar for one’s religion the one who does not pray his cursed cannot be trusted because he had demolished this pillar which is very important for his religion that’s why it’s very important for one to pray regularly whether he is in a hardship or he is in a joy whether he is experiencing financial situation or not he needs to pray all the times and those are the ones as Allah mentioned and levena you claim you know Salah they are regular and praying they pray in hardship they pray when they are in comfort they pray in all cases even it’s narrated and mentioned that whoever prays regularly correct prayer even if he commits other major sins and he dies without repentance and he was amongst those who were deemed to be tortured and Hellfire for a period of time before they are admitted into paradise because there is no believer who will dwell in Hellfire forever but if he used to pray regularly and he used to commit major sins as well and he died without repentance from these sins but he used to pray regularly and he was deemed to the torture of Hell for a period of time it is mentioned that the spots where he places on the ground when performing Sir George will not be touched by fire these are spots like his forehead his palms his knees and the bottom of his toes as well those parts that are placed on the ground in the prayer fire will not come near him while he is in Hellfire that shows the merit of the prayer and the benefit of praying regularly also the one who is travelling is allowed not to fast however if he can tolerate fasting without harming himself so he does not enjoy any hardship then it’s better for him to continue fasting like these days even if you travel from one country to another in the plane to our trip three-hour trip you become in a different country you don’t experience that hardship we can but islamically Islamically you are allowed to break the fast of that day that you are traveling in provided that according to in a machete a in my malik and imam abu hanifa this is risk Allah said the trouble must establish before dawn so let us say if he is leaving to Lebanon at ten o’clock in the evening that’s when the plane takes off then he will go to let us say Dubai and he will be in Dubai boy dawn time so that day that day he is allowed not to faster but if he can eat before dawn and fast this day without enduring any hardship harming himself then it’s better for him to continue fasting Allah Ta’ala said well the sumo high element that’s in reference to this troubling person who does not enjoy any hardship in his trouble when fasting then it is better for him to remain fasting and this distance must be a distance that allows one to shorten the prayer the four Waqas to two and this distance according to one of the sayings is around 80 kilometers if for instance he is traveling that distance and he establishing this travel before dawn he is allowed not to faster day if he remains fasting as we mentioned and he does not enjoy any hardship then it’s better for him to continue fasting if he chooses to break his fast he is allowed that’s according to the three scholars in the way we mentioned that the trouble must be established before dawn according to Imam Muhammad of the allahu anhu he said even if one establishes his travel after dawn he can break his fast for that they provided that he left the boundaries of his hometown if his plane is at ten o’clock in the morning he saws his day fasting then after takeoff and after the plane leaves the boundaries of his hometown according to Mohammed II is allowed to break his faster that’s according to Eman a man called the olomana also the scholars mentioned another condition that his fast is not sinful if one is traveling for a sin he is not allowed to break his fast as for the integrals of fasting they are to first the intention second to abstain from all the in validators of fasting to have the intention meaning at night between sunset and don’t too fast the following day such as to say in his heart I intend to fast the following day from Allah for each night he needs to do this according to mm-hmm according to Imam Malik on the first night of the first day meaning when we say the first night of the first day meaning denied preceding the day if Ramadan is confirmed he can put the intention to fast 30 days of Ramadan and that would be sufficient for the whole month he doesn’t have to repeat the intention afterwards that would be sufficient for the whole month the second is to abstain from all the in validators of fasting one needs to abstain from taking unto his body cavity any substance through an open Inlet if he does sir this invalidates his fast whether this substance is food or something else like medicine if one takes any medicine into his body cavities through an open Inlet such as his mouth or his nose because these are two open inlets the eye is not then this invalidates his fast even if it is medicine and as we mentioned if he cannot tolerate fasting without taking that medicine he is not obligated to fast but he cannot take medicine and considers himself as still fasting he can’t do this as some people now subhanAllah they think if they give it a fatwa to people and it’s a strange one they think they’re gonna be famous what I use will not but if one is known by a bad thing they call him infamous in English there is a difference between famous and infamous those infamous people claimed that if one is in need of taking the puffer to inhale the medicine into the body cavity through the mouth they say to people you are allowed to use it and you are still fasting can you tell me how many times you can use the puffer then it becomes empty so what did the medicine go inhaled into one’s body through the mouth which is an open Inlet so he took actually medicine into his body cavity through an open and invalidates his fast very simple so if they said the puffer does not invalidate first then smoking will not in they’d fast as well what’s the difference between these and that one when these particles are separating from this buffer and going inside one’s body through an open Inlet that invalidates once fast but some people’s upon a law they just give answers from their mere opinions and they do not rely on the rules of the religion because they don’t have them they don’t have them they haven’t learned these foundations and the rules by which they can know the judgment so they haven’t acquired the knowledge enough and they haven’t reached the stage or the rank of the top scholars that are called much tithing just because they are lazy they don’t want to put forth effort to learn and they study maybe four years by correspondence you know so they don’t even attend at the end of four years they given a certificate that he finished four years of Islamic studies with that certificate he was determined and if he has some good communication with some TV stations he starts making a program issuing fatwas and some of these fad was when he Heda you say subhanAllah would a person say something like this there are some who mentioned before that if one is very thirsty in Ramadan he can have a sip of water and he can continue fasting the invalidates fast then they added by saying if he is very hungry he can eat a bit and he can continue fasting so what’s the meaning of fasting what do they understand from fasting and because inside regions in Europe now in Europe in the north they are in summer and the day is very long so they fast some of them up to 22 hours and some countries 20 hours it’s a long day because they have a long day they started talking what should we do and they made Muslims the righteous Imams told them you have to fast that’s a hardship you fast if you reach a stage where you cannot continue fasting you are allowed to break your fast then you can make him up in winter when the day is short so some followed this rule and some are patient and they manage to fast these long hours but then someone came up and he said to people let us follow the time zone of Makkah so when do they break the fast we break our fast again he followed Mecca so they break the fast when it is what nearly over time for them so they listen to the radio or to the internet they started the azan of sunset ii animal arab and they break the fast during the day the sun is there so even if this person is called mufti or cold shade or called amman his saying is against the rules of the religion so one should not give him any regard swallowing one’s own saliva if it’s not mixed with any other substance does not invalidate the fast but if it’s mixed with the juice that he drank prior to dawn time or kind of cordial before the time of Dom then are we and he didn’t clean his mouth properly then after done he swallows the saliva that is mixed with their juice and the like then his face is invalidated but swallowing ones pure unchanged saliva does not invalidate his fast and it doesn’t matter how many times he swallows his saliva while fasting this does not invalidate one’s fuss so even if one were to lick his lips for instance this does not invalidate his fast now what the scholars mentioned that if one takes the saliva out of his mouth and they dangle out of his mouth they separate from the tongue then he takes him back in and swallows them that when he breaks his fast because they got separated from his tongue then he swallowed them back in when they were outside the mouth that invalidates his fast using a kind of medicine in the anus of vagina that invalidates ones fast as well and as we mentioned if one were in need of this medicine he would take her and he would break his fast and he will make him up later sexual intercourse during the day of fasting invalidates one’s fast as well and if one does invalidate his fast by having sexual intercourse during the day of fasting he must make up this day and he commits a major sin and he must pay an expiation now the first one is not applicable now so he moves on to the second one too fast to consecutive lunar months if unable to feed 64 Muslims each one a mood that the fill of every size has come together filled with the most common staple food of that region in this order in this order now the first one is not applicable now so he moves on to the second one the first two consecutive luna months because this is something that he needs to stay away from during the day of fasting but during the night he is allowed Allah said in the Quran who held eloquent lailatul seer a bluffer sue ellen is a comb you are allowed to have intercourse with your wives during the night not during the day they induce vomit invalidates one’s fast and here we’re talking about the one who forces himself to vomit such as putting his finger inside his mouth to force himself to vomit there it validates his fast but if a person gets sick and he vomits involuntarily this does not invalidate his fast but he needs to wash his mouth thoroughly before he can start swallowing his saliva that is not contaminated with the foreman finally one must abstain as at all times from committing apostasy which invalidates one’s fast apostasy is committing any type of blasphemy and that takes one out of Islam and he must reimburse Aslam by saying the to the Suffocation’s of faith if one commits any type of blasphemy during the day of fasting he must really embrace Islam by uttering the to the CIFAS of faith and he must remain as if fasting for the rest of the day and that is for respect to the month of Ramadan then he has to make up this day not the days before only that day when he committed blasphemy during it during that day so if he fasted 15 days as Muslim then on the sixteenth day during the day he committed apostasy he swore at Allah at a profit at an angel he mocked a religious matter for instance then he embraced Islam so that sixteenth day was invalidated he has to make it up as for the fifteen days that he already fasted when he was Muslim they remained valid but by committing blasphemy he lost all the rewards he gained in his entire lifetime so all the rewards will be lost in his entire life whatever he accumulated he lost them the rewards but he doesn’t have to make up the prayers or the fasting days that he performed when he was Muslim finally we urge you to exercise patience during the month of Ramadan and attend the classes that will be taught during this month to increase your knowledge and learn more details about the rules of fasting so insha’Allah Allah you make sure that your fast is valid as allah subhanahu wa’ta’ala oded i asked a lot to help us perform a lot of good deeds during this month and make us amongst those who are written to be protected from hellfire during this month Amin and Allah knows best