Friday 21 February 2020

The Person Fasting is His Own Master

A translation of this fatwa from Naseem al-Sham




Question:

Assalām ʿalaykum,

If I intend to fast some days (a supererogatory fast, like the six days of Shawwāl, for example) and then on the second day I don’t fast, do I owe an expiation (kaffārah)?

Answer (Imam Muḥammad Tawfīq Ramaḍān):

Kaffārah (which is to fast for two months straight) is only obligatory upon the one who breaks his fast in Ramaḍān deliberately by having sexual intercourse.

And one is not obligated to pay a fidyah[1] (which is one mudd[2] of the staple crop of one’s country) except for specific reasons that are also connected to the fast of Ramaḍān.

The one who fasts voluntarily – i.e. performs a supererogatory fast – is his own master; he may break his fast or he may complete it, even though it is disliked (makrūh) for him to break it according to us,[3] and Allah knows best.


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[1] (tn): i.e. redemption, a person in this situation has not sinned and is thus merely looking to compensate for missing out on worship as opposed to expiating a sin they have committed
[2] (tn): i.e. half a litre of food, which should be the staple crop of the country. Please see Reliance, section i1.33, p.290. According to Muʿjam Lughat al-Fuqahāʾ (Beirut: Dār Al-Nafāʾis, 1431/2010), s.v. Mudd, one mudd is equivalent to 0.543 kg, to be precise.
[3] (tn): i.e. the Shāfiʿīs

More Fatawa on Ramadan and Fasting

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