Fasting (Sawm)
Ramadan, who must fast, what breaks a fast, and making fasts up.
The basics
- What fasting is, and why it matters What the fast of Ramadan is, why it is the fourth pillar of Islam, and the virtues the Qur'an and hadith give it.
- How the start of Ramadan and Eid are decided The rules for sighting the moon of Ramadan and Eid, whose testimony counts, and how the fast begins and ends.
- Who must fast, and the conditions for it Who fasting in Ramadan is obligatory on, the conditions for that obligation, and the two conditions a fast needs to be valid at all.
- The nine kinds of fast The nine categories of fasting in the Hanafi school, from the obligatory fasts of Ramadan, through the emphasised and recommended fasts, down to the fasts it is disliked or sinful to keep.
Keeping the fast
- The intention for fasting, and when to make it How to make the intention (niyyah) for a fast, the words used, and by when it must be made for each kind of fast.
- The fasting day: the pre-dawn meal (suhur), the three obligations, and breaking the fast (iftar) What a fast requires from dawn to sunset, and the recommended way to eat the pre-dawn meal (suhur), break the fast (iftar), and use the day well.
What breaks a fast
- What breaks a fast: making it up (qada), expiation (kaffarah), or nothing at all Which acts break a fast and only need making up, which need making up plus an expiation, and which do not break the fast at all.
- Disliked and permissible acts while fasting Things that are better avoided while fasting even though they do not break the fast, and things that are fully permitted and safe to do.
Excuses and making fasts up
- Valid excuses for not fasting, and the compensation (fidyah) Who is excused from fasting (travel, illness, pregnancy, old age and more), when a fast may actually be broken, and who pays the compensation (fidyah) instead of making up the fast.
- Making up missed fasts (qada) The rules for making up fasts that were missed or broken: when, in what order, and who owes the compensation (fidyah) instead.