Who Must Fast? Five Essential Criteria

Was.

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Gentlemen. Gentlemen, you alhamdulillah. Continuing.

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In in the book of fasting. This chapter is regarding upon whom fasting is obligated. So what are the points of criteria that a person must meet in order for fasting to be obligated upon them? Notice the wording here. The wording the wording here is obligated. It doesn't mean that this criteria is for fasting to be accepted or fasting to be valid. A person's fasting may be valid even if they don't meet a couple of the points here of this criteria. However, this is regarding upon whom fasting is obligated. You are obligated to fast if you meet these points of criteria. say in his book. Muslim. Say mentions in his book that the scholars have all come to a consensus. All of the fuka of Islam have come to the consensus that fasting is an obligation upon those who meet five points of criteria. that a person is Muslim, a person is sane, a person is of the age of puberty, that a person is healthy enough to fast, and that a person is a resident, meaning the opposite of a traveler. And an additional point of criteria for females is that a woman not be in a state of ministration or postpartum bleeding. Now, we'll explain each of these points, but it's important that we keep in mind five points for the obligation of fasting. Fasting is obligated upon the Muslim who is sane above the age of puberty healthy and a resident as opposed to a traveler meaning not traveling and for a female that she is not in a state of menration or postpartum bleeding. Now ministration and postpartum this is not an illness okay but it has the ruling of the for a person to break his fast due to illness. It is not an illness obviously. Actually, if it doesn't happen, something is usually wrong. But it is something that runs in the vein of the ruling for the person who is ill, someone who is not fasting due to illness. We'll discuss all of that. Likewise, , old age, very old to where fasting is possible, but very hard. It's tolerable. They could push through it. They could soldier through it, but it's very difficult. It's difficult to the point that it is perhaps very uncomfortable. This here is not in itself illness. Old age is not illness. However, it runs in the same vein as illness and we will discuss the types of illness and their rulings inshall. The first point is that a person is Muslim. What does that mean? The scholars often mention this point of criteria for a lot of the obligations of Islam. That salah is obligated upon a Muslim. That zaka is obligated upon a Muslim. that fasting is obligated upon a Muslim and this is often misunderstood by many people when the fa say that Islam is a condition it doesn't mean that only the Muslims are being commanded by Allah to fast that is not correct it doesn't mean that the Quran is only for the Muslims. That Muhammad Sam was only sent to the Muslim. That if a person disbelieves or if a person is not a Muslim that they will not be held accountable on the day of resurrection for failing to uphold the laws and requirements of Islam. That's not what is meant. the command of fasting is for everyone Muslim and non-Muslim. However, when we say Islam is a one of the five points of criteria for fasting to be obligated upon them. Meaning a person who is not Muslim is not begin with fasting. If they were to fast, their fasting would not be valid. It would be invalid. Fasting is obligated upon the Muslim. It's obligated upon those who are not Muslim. However, those who are not Muslim are not told you need to fast. At least fast. No, they are told to enter into Islam. They are told to begin with the testimony ofahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahillasool. before this if a person were to fast of course their fasting would be invalid. And so this point here is important for us to distinguish. Sometimes people have in their mind that Muslim when you enter into Islam, you've got all these rules and all these responsibilities and you're held to account for failing to comply. But if a person were just not Muslim that there's no judgment upon them. No. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala tells us in that the people of the hellfire are asked. They said when they are asked what has landed you in this hell in this damnation their response is what we didn't pray we were not of those who prayed so the scholars take from this verse and others it that a person who rejects Islam does not become Muslim they will be held to account for rejection of Islam but they will also be held to account for all of the rulings of Islam that they failed to comply with. They say, "Well, I didn't know. You didn't know because you rejected the whole religion." And so the person will still be held to account for that. The second point of criteria is is sanity. And oftent times sanity is conflated with emotional instability. So insanity and emotion instability, emotional instability, they are two different things. Modern psychiatry or modern psychology might kind of view those as all being in the same pool in the same vein, but they are not. A person could have disorder, some kind of disorder. Or they could have some you know clinical depression or generalized anxiety disorder or a person could have of what are referred to in a very general sense as mental illnesses. But this doesn't really have much to do with sanity as understood by the fa of Islam. The jurists of Islam they say they tell us that sanity and insanity they are distinguished by one very clear common thing and that is a person who is considered to be Islamically sane is someone who can hold a coherent intention is someone who can hold a coherent intention. If a person is able and is of sound mind enough to be able to hold a coherent intention, if you imagine with me someone who is insane, they come in and see everybody making wool and so they start splashing around in the water with everybody, right? They see someone put their foot up, they put their foot up. They see someone wash their arm, they wash their arm. If you ask them, "What are you doing?" You know, they they don't know what they're doing. They're not coherent at that point. However, a person who is considered to be Islamically sane is someone who is able to have a coherent intention that is clear. I am doing this for this reason. My intention is to fast. Fasting is 1 2 3 etc. They understand the difference between fasting and not fasting. They understand the difference between so this is considered to be sanity and this is the distinguishing factor between the sane and the insane. Number three is alik. Albik is someone who is of the age of puberty. Now we need to discuss what puberty is. Puberty is a physical reaction or a physical change that takes place in the body once the brain and the body is mature enough to be considered able to distinguish right from wrong. This is called this is called puberty right and this is legislative adulthood. Sometimes, a lot of times in our modern society, , adulthood and maturity are, , conflated, confused, just what are referred to as mental illnesses and sanity are confused or insanity. Likewise, confusion takes place between adulthood and maturity. Person could be 35 and still be very immature. Have the maturity of a 12year-old. That is not just possible. It's becoming more and more probable. Right? Maturity is not the issue here. The issue is that a person is of pubescent age to where they are able to understand the difference between right and wrong and able to tie consequences to actions. This is now an age of puberty and the body reacts to this. The body reaches a sexual maturity and the body reaches a mental maturity. Enough for this. So puberty has been discussed at length by the scholars of Islam. What is the true criteria for puberty? We can simplify it and say a person reaches the age of puberty when one of three things happens. For girls it is four things. For boys it is three things. One of these three things happens. First this person has reached the age of puberty. Number one is that a person starts to grow pubic hair around their genitals. This is one indicator of pubescent age. Number two, the person has or the the child reaches maturity and this is this is is articulated when a child is able to have what is called is the ability to sexually be gratified sexually that a child may have what is called a wet dream. This is another point. If none of these two things happen, if neither of these two things happen, 15 is the latest. At 15 years old, everyone is an adult. Now, remember, we're using that word adult in Islamic law, meaning that this person now is being judged for their actions. doesn't necessarily mean that they should be trusted with a vehicle at 15. It doesn't necessarily mean they should be trusted with a firearm at this age. Doesn't necessarily mean that they should be trusted to pilot a Boeing 737. That's not what is meant here by adulthood. Adulthood in an Islamic sense, in Islamic law, is that this child understands two things. The distinction between right and wrong and the tiein between consequences and actions. Even if these two things are very distant apart, when they understand these two things, the latest they would understand these two things is the age of 15. And for girls there is one more point and that is menration. So if any of these four things happen for boys three things then this person has reached the age of puberty. This person now if they fail to pray they are held accountable. They are obligated to fast. They're obligated to pray. They're obligated to give zaka etc. Now, of course, the softer our society becomes and the more comfortable we are, the more spoiled we become and the more immature we become as a people in general. It's very common to meet someone that is 45, 50 years old with the emotional and mental maturity of a 15year-old. This is very common can still find this because of the very refined living that we are exposed to now. We don't have a kind of lifestyle where mistakes are very permanent and mistakes are very brutal. We have a society in a way set up is the society of second chances. You always get a second chance. Even if it's the 50th chance, it's still your second chance, right? And so nothing is really really no one is really held accountable, right? Especially if you have money, especially if you have connection, you're not really going to help be held accountable to the point that u even amenities running water and indoor plumbing and you know gas in the house and electricity and so forth. This has all contributed to a very comfortable living situation. And when children are coddled and they continue to be coddled and coddled until they're 15, 20, 25, and it's still, oh, my little baby and my little Swedoms and my little What happens is immaturity takes root and then you have a very immature generation raising another generation and they pass that im immaturity down and so forth. it becomes worse and worse until things, you know, usually fall apart. Then we have a great reset, right? And then things are real difficult again until they get soft again and so forth. And for this reason, the companions would go out of their way to expose their children to difficulty. They would go out of their way to expose their children to difficulty, even difficulties such as walking barefoot, difficulties such as difficulties in amenities and slightly uncomfortable living situations. in order to especially for boys in continue to have that that roughness and which which breeds maturity. And so maturity and and puberty are not the same thing. They can be different and they very much are.

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