Why Muslims Must Fast Together, Not Alone
Community Unity in Ramadan Fasting: Rulings on Starting, Ending, and Makeup Days
Summary
This lecture from the Zadul-Ma'ad series focuses on the rulings and conditions of fasting during Ramadan, with particular emphasis on community unity in observing the month. Sheikh Ali Mashhour discusses the critical principle that Muslims should fast together as a community rather than individually, citing prophetic narrations that fasting, breaking the fast, and Eid celebrations should be communal acts. He explains that Ramadan begins and ends with the acknowledgment of the Muslim community, not merely the sighting of the crescent moon, and addresses the practical issues that arise when different regions announce different dates for Ramadan's commencement and conclusion.
The lecture covers several important fiqh rulings including scenarios where a person becomes aware of Ramadan mid-day and begins fasting, the ruling for women who break their fast due to menstruation mid-day, and the guidelines for those who miss fasting due to travel, illness, pregnancy, or breastfeeding. Sheikh Mashhour explains that a woman who breaks her fast due to a legitimate excuse need not resume fasting for the remainder of that day, though she must make up the day later. For women who miss extended periods of fasting due to pregnancy and breastfeeding, if the accumulated missed days exceed one year, they pay fidya (feeding the poor) rather than making up all the days.
Note: This transcript was generated using YouTube's automatic captioning, with AI-assisted cleanup for readability. It may contain inaccuracies due to background noise, audio quality, or limitations of the transcription software — particularly during Arabic recitation. Listener discretion is advised; please refer to the original video for precise wording.
Alhamdulillah.
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Installments of this class until the month is completed. in its place and in its stead, I will be holding a class in every night after the month of Ramadan inshallah. So, these months, these classes will be suspended until after Ramadan and this the last class we will be doing until after Ramadan inshallah and during the month of Ramadan, every day after we will sit for about 40 or 45 minutes in the topic of regarding the Surah in choosing a topic for is a very deep subject. It's a very important and crucial subject. it's mostly important for us to explain and expound upon chapters of the Quran that we have all memorized. However, in order for us to go through a particular narrative that is of Great pertinence to the month of Ramadan. We have chosen due to the fact that we are approaching Ramadan, we will be as we have in the past two classes, adding from the books of the with regards to the rulings and conditions and pillars and obligations and so forth of Ramadan in order for us to be most possibly ready for welcoming this great month that is upon us. Ramadan. And.
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Ramadan end. When is the day of Eid? This is an ongoing issue with a group of people, if not, a a large group, a substantial group that are confused with regards to this issue. Many of us have come from other countries whether it be from Jordan or Yemen or any of these countries. Palestine, and many of us fall into a kind of conundrum when there is a difference of opinion with regards an internationally different opinion with regards to the commencing com of the month of Ramadan, the ending of the month of Ramadan. When should I start fasting? When should I end my fast? When does the month of Ramadan come upon us? So, many people will become confused when they hear of the month of Ramadan being announced in Saudi, being announced in Jordan, being announced in Yemen, and it is not announced here in America or vice versa. And so, It's important for us to take into account that the month of Ramadan commences When the people acknowledge it as the month of Ramadan. This is the of Sheikh Al Islam that the month of Ramadan does not commence with the birth of the crescent The month of Ramadan commences with the acknowledgement of the masses of the Muslims that it has begun. This is an important topic. There should never be an instance when one Muslim is fasting and the larger mass of his community are not or that the larger mass of his community are fasting and he is not or that he begins his day of Eid and not fasting whilst the mass majority of his community are still fasting and and so forth. This is incorrect. and the correct opinion is that every place has its own community and when that when that major group or the the majority of that community acknowledges that the month of Ramadan is on this day and they begin to fast, we fast with them. Islam And a.
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That the prophet said Fasting is when you all fast. And breaking the fast is when you all break your fast. And Abha, the day of Abha, is the day when you all sacrifice. The day of sacrifice is when you all sacrifice. What does this narration mean? This narration means that a person is going to fast with the majority of his community. and a person is going to break his fast when the majority of his community break their fast. And a person is going to celebrate the day of when the majority of the people celebrate the day of Alha. It is incorrect for a person to fast with another community. And be the odd one in his own community. This defeats largely a great or one of the greater purposes of fasting altogether in the same month. If a person were to fast we know that. We can fast and make up days of Ramadan that we miss. We can make those days up any days throughout the year. Correct? Any day throughout the year, we can make up those days. And so, we understand from this that what is intended by fasting is the amount of days not necessarily, the length of the days. Ramadan can come in the winter. It can come in the summer. A person can. Could have missed a day of Ramadan. During the longest days of the year. And fast and make up that day during the shortest days of the year. And it will be valid. So, when Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says death, he says, fasting has been prescribed upon you all as it has upon those who have preceded you in order that you may attain. Tuckwa and righteousness and a fixed amount of days. A fixed amount of days. The scholars of Tafsir tell us that this wording, a fixed amount of days, articulate that what is intended is the amount of days and not necessarily the length of those days. So, if a person misses a day of Ramadan when they should be fasting 12 hours and then they make that day up with a day that is short and only fast for eight hours or 7 hours, that is a valid fast and it takes the day. So, if we look at it from this angle, we could see that why was month of Ramadan specified. Obviously was specified for a number of reasons but why specifically this month? In order that all of the Muslims fast together and break their fast together. Otherwise, we could be told, fast 30 days throughout the year. Just fast 30 days throughout the year and people will fast as they choose. But this is not how it was obligated. It was obligated during a specific month in order for all of us to fast together. And so if we Understand this and then we start to fast with people that are not in our community. So, we have a guy fasting and another person not fasting. This defeats one of the greater purposes of fasting the month of Ramadan. Does this make sense? No, there's no time limit. The opinion of the majority of the is that a person may fast any makeup day of Ramadan during any time of the year. Al Ramadan.
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They don't have to. Fast those days of Ramadan immediately after Ramadan. There's no limit. The only limit is the next Ramadan. So you have to have made those days up before. next year's Ramadan approaches. Otherwise, you can fast any day throughout those days. But the point here is that if we hear of you know, one of these major Muslim countries Saudi Arabia is announced that today is the first day of Ramadan or tomorrow is the first day of Ramadan and that is not the case in our community here, in our area, then we would not fast with we would fast with our community and likewise, we would fast with our, we would break our fast with our community and so it's very very important that we understand this, wisdom behind fasting the month of Ramadan and when we break our fast. There shouldn't be a situation where a person is fasting Ramadan and the person next to him is not fasting. Or one person is having Eid and the next person is not having Eid. And we hear about this sometimes. Al that is largely largely taken care of here in this community. There's been a there's been an agreement amongst the majority of the Masajid here in Chicago including this masjid that we all fast together and we all break our fast together. Alhamdulillah. However, this is an important issue for us to take into into consideration. That's we fast when the majority of our community fast and we break our fast when the majority of our community breaks its fast. We do not fast alone. We do not break our fast alone. And this resolves a lot of issues that come up. Not just issues of who's fasting and who's not fasting. I've seen instances where people in the same house. Some of them are fasting and some of them are having eat. And the same day. Right? And I've seen instances where some people are still not fasting and the other people have begun Ramadan. In the same house. Let alone in the same Masjid or in the same area. This is something which is incorrect and when we have issues that come up such as the day of Eid is a day off for the kids at school. So, the schools will, you know, the government will make it a public holiday or a holiday for the Muslims for the commencement of Ramadan. So, when is Ramadan? Well, we don't know. We have to tell you a day before. When is the end of Ramadan? We we have to wait and see and so we have some kids that are going for Eid, some kids who are not going for Eid and so, This is largely problematic and it's something that should be taken into account. When you live in a community, you attend a masjid, you are in an area, you fast with the people of that area, irrespective of what is happening. elsewhere. There is a narration in Sahih Muslim in which Abdullah have been Abbas, arrived to Hashem where was and the people in Medina had began fasting a particular day while the people in Hashem had not began fasting yet and Ibn Abbas said, Solomon.
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Or turkey or wherever people go. If you are going to Ohio, you will fast and break your fast with the people there. The point is, is that everyone should be on the same page when they are together. This is what is important. We mention the pillars of fast we said there are two pillars to fasting. The first is.
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Of the prophet in that There is another issue and that is, what if a person is unaware that tomorrow is fasting, that tomorrow is the beginning of Ramadan. And so, the person wakes up, they're going through their day, and then they realize that this is the month of Ramadan. Everybody is fasting. And so, they begin to fast when they hear that the month of Ramadan has begun. Do they have to make that day up or not? The.
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Instance, a person goes to bed, they are unaware that tomorrow is fasting, right? So, they go to bed and they, you know, don't don't know that tomorrow is the day of fasting. They wake up, they go through their routine, they eat breakfast, whatever it is and and eight, nine o'clock in the in the morning, they realize that today is actually the first day of Ramadan. Does this person have to make up that day or not? It's a difference of opinion amongst the scholars of Islam. The opinion which was bolstered and chosen and adopted by Sheikh Al Islam. Ibn Tami, Rahim is that the person does not have to make that day up. Rather, the person is to begin his fasting immediately as he knows to cease from anything that will break his fast, to hold the intention, and the person will have day considered as a valid day of fasting. They do not have to make that day up. Another thing that comes up and here we are kind of tying up loose ends. We've discussed a lot of the basics of fasting. We're just tying up some loose ends to kind of prepare ourselves for the coming month. Masa Allah. With A Ida Canal in San.
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Having her menstrual cycle and at around time, her menstruation ceases. Does she have to begin fasting for the rest of the day? Or can she break her fast for the rest of the day? The correct opinion the opinion of many of the companions have been amongst them. Ibn Masud, who said, whoever has broken his fast at the beginning of the day, then he is permitted to break his fast at its end. And what this means is that if a person is travelling for instance, and they arrive home in the middle of the day, and they had broken their fast in the morning, they had a, they had a permission, an allowance from Allah to break their fast at the beginning. Do they have to begin fasting until the end of the day, or can they continue to eat and drink whatever they until the next day, the the correct opinion is that they not have to begin fasting. They can break their fast at the end of the day just as they did in the beginning because they had a legitimate excuse. A permissible. They have done something permissible at the beginning of the day and they have to make this day up. So, the rest of the day, they can break their fast as well. This happens often as we mentioned, someone who is traveling, someone who is ill, someone who has to take some medicine, let's say a person has to take some medicine at nine or ten o'clock. They have some doctor's appointment. They can't push it to outside of Ramadan. They go to it. They are given some kind of something that will break their fast. Do they have to? Fast for the rest of the day? No. They break their fast and they can continue to break their fast throughout the day. However, Lakin in.
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A. Does this person, can this person, if they broke their fast unrightfully at the beginning of the day, continue to break their fast throughout the day? No, this person must begin to fast immediately and repent to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. But if a person has a legitimate excuse such as illness or travel or any of the excuses that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has mentioned. This person does not have to fast throughout the day. They may break their fast and maintain the breaking of their fast even if that illness or that travel has ceased. Yes, they have to make that day up because they had a legitimate excuse to break their fast that day. They make that day up later but a person who does not have an excuse and breaks his fast, he must fast for the rest of his day and he must make that day up as well. Now,.
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The.
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Pence for that fast that she has missed. Should she merely make those days up? Or should she should she pay the the or should she pay the and make those days up? These are three opinions of the scholars of the Correct opinion is that a woman who breaks her fast due to pregnancy or breastfeeding She merely makes those days up. She breaks her fast during the month of Ramadan due to breastfeeding or due to being pregnant. She merely makes those days up. When does she not make those days up? She will not make those days up if she starts to accumulate more than one year's worth of fasting. So, for instance, a woman is pregnant during Ramadan and then after Ramadan, she has her baby and now she's going to breastfeed and so she breastfeeds now for 2 years. She misses another Ramadan and then she gets pregnant again and so forth. She goes into this kind of cycle. A woman may end up with seven or eight years worth of fasting, 7 months, 6 months. This woman will not make up fasting in this case. Merely, she woke she will pay which is to feed a poor person for everyday which she missed. And this is the of many of the companions. Such as Abdullah Ibn Omar and Abu Huraira and Abdullah. As was mentioned by and others. And these companions terminally ill. The terminally ill. Someone who has an illness that they are not expecting this illness to go away. Or this is an illness which will last three or 4 years. This person does not make those days up. This person merely pays the Kafara or pays the pays the and so a woman who has this issue. She's not ill. She's not terminally ill. However, she has the same situation a person who is terminally ill. So, she will take the same ruling As these companions and others have have mentioned. In closing, and.