Six Things That Break Your Fast
Nullifiers of Fasting and the Expiation for Intercourse During Ramadan
Summary
This lecture discusses the pillars and nullifiers of fasting in Islam, specifically focusing on the book of fasting within Islamic jurisprudence. The instructor covers the two pillars of fasting (intention and refraining from breaking the fast) and details the six things that nullify a fast: eating and drinking intentionally, inducing vomiting, menstruation, postpartum bleeding, and intercourse. The lecture emphasizes that fasting is a binary state—either one is fasting or not—and discusses the concept of 'imsak (refraining from food while not fasting). A detailed narration from Sahih Bukhari and Sahih Muslim is presented regarding a man who engaged in intercourse during a fasting day in Ramadan, explaining the severe expiation required (freeing a slave, fasting two consecutive months, or feeding 60 poor people). The instructor provides historical context on slavery in pre-Islamic Arabia versus Islamic law, explaining how Islam restricted the ways to become enslaved while expanding paths to emancipation.
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.
Gentlemen,.
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Alhamdulillah.
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Continuing in the book of fasting in the chapter Regarding the pillars of fasting, we mentioned that there are how many pillars to fasting? Two. The first one, intention. The second, refraining from anything that will break a person's fast. And how many things break a person's fast? six or five, however you however you list them. We mentioned thus far three of them. Number one and two are eating and drinking anything you know purposely. Number three which we discussed yesterday is inducing oneself to vomit. Okay. The fourth and fifth areas the menration or postpartum bleeding. So these two things menration and postpartum. Menration is a monthly cycle obviously and postpartum is exactly what it sounds post meaning afterartum child birth. So when a woman gives birth there is a cleansing that occurs to the womb and there is a bleeding that takes place and as mentioned this will never continue past 40 days. Anything past 40 days, it may be postpartum medically, but in the legislation of Islam, for our intents and purposes, Islam no longer views this as postpartum bleeding anymore. So these two things, ministration and postpartum bleeding, these are two things that have the same rulings all through Islamic legislation except in three instances. Outside of these three instances, what is said for postpartum is said for is true for menration and what is said for menration is true for postpartum bleeding. These two things are one of the or two of the things that will compromise a woman's fast. So if a woman is having her cycle or experiencing postpartum then this will this woman is relieved from fasting during this period. She is relieved from fasting during this period and she is to make up these days that she misses when she is finished with her cycle or when she is finished with her postpartum bleeding. He says five and four and five are menration and postpartum. Even if it happens at the very end of the day, even if it happens just before, just before the aden, as soon as a woman's cycle begins or as soon as postpartum bleeding begins, which is less spontaneous, then fasting now is no longer obligated upon her at this time until she is finished with this and so at any time when she begins her cycle throughout the day this will immediately nullify the fast for the day. So the question now is let's say a person has an excuse to break their fast. Can they freely eat and drink in the daytime of Ramadan or should it be just fasting but not really fasting my fast is not is I'm not really fasting but I'm not really indulging as if I wasn't fasting. The answer is you're either fasting or you're not. Those are the two. There's no in between. I'm kind of fasting, I'm a little bit fasting, a partial fasting. This doesn't exist. And the same thing goes with a person who has an excuse to break his fast and then that excuse is over during the daytime of fasting. Let's say a person is traveling and they arrive home midday. Do they have to refrain and complete their day fasting even though it is not considered to be a valid fast? They will have to make it up. The answer and the correct opinion is the fatwa of Abdullahbdah. He said whoever has an allowance to break his fast in the in the beginning of the day then he is to break his fast at the end of the day. There's no difference. A day of fasting is one unit. If a person has an excuse to break his fast, let's say a person is traveling and he arrives home 30 minutes after fud and he is not fasting of that day. Does he have to do what is referred to by some of the fukah as im which is to refrain from anything eating or drinking until the sundown? The answer is no. This person had a valid legislative allowance to break his fast. Therefore, he is not fasting that day. When does this issue of imac take place? This takes place in instances when a person does not have an allowance to break his fast at the beginning of the day. Right? Let's say for instance, a person doesn't know that it's Ramadan until midday, right? They've already eaten. They've already drank and then they find out, oh, it's actually Ramadan. Ramadan started. Can they continue to eat and drink throughout the day? No. They immediately stop and complete their day, but they have to make that day up. Why is that? Why are you fasting even though your fast is invalid? This is because it is a sacred time, right? And this person didn't have an allowance at the beginning of the day. And this is exactly what the prophet sallall.aii wasallam commanded in Sah Muslim. The prophet sallallah.aii alaihi wasallam sent people to go through Medina and inform everyone that is now obligatory to fast. Whoever has not eaten nor drank anything for the day then he is to continue his fast and whoever has eaten or drank anything then he is to begin his fast from this moment. Right? And so he commanded them to stop eating and drinking even though it was midday before before a zoed. So this is the difference between these two. But if a person has an allowance to fast at the beginning of the day, then he has an allowance to fast at the end. It goes as one unit. Now, should a woman who is on her cycle or during postpartum, you know, if she has little kids that are easily confused be, you know, walking around the house telling them fast, but then she's like eating and drinking maybe for the sake of confusion. This is something that is not preferred, right? so that the children don't become don't misunderstand or what have you. However, if a person has a valid allowance, then they are allowed to indulge freely. The sixth and final thing that will nullify that will compromise a person's fast is elim which is intercourse right and intercourse actually has a bare minimum that the prophet sallallah alaii wasallam quantified which we will discuss us inshallah this is considered to be a major sin in Islam for a person to engage in intercourse without an allowance during the daytime of Ramadan. Then this is a major sin in Islam and it has the most strict kafur that there is and that is that in order to expedate this a person must fast two consecutive months without breaking a single day in between and if they break a single day in between they have to start over again. This is a very very very weighty kafur experation. And so the punishments or the experations for a particular act they reflect the seriousness of the act itself which we will get into inshallah. Now this is also back to what we said in the previous and that is if a person has an Islamic allowance person has an allowance to break his fast. A man and his wife are traveling they get home in midday. would this apply to them? Are they prohibited from engaging in intercourse? No. Because you're as we mentioned you're either fasting or you're not right. The only time a person ha does what is called imse which is to refrain even though the person is not fasting is if they do not have an allowance to break their fast. They do not have a in this instance. their recourse is to immediately cease anything that would break their fast. He then cites a narration on the authority of Abi. The narration is in Bkari, a Muslim. It's in Malik and it's also in a very well-known narration. It's in all three save.
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Abu said, "Once we were sitting with the prophet Sam when a man approached and said, Oh messenger of Allah, I am done. I'm totally done. I'm finished. He said, "What is the problem?" He said, "I had intercourse with my wife while I was fasting. He said, "Do you possess a slave that you could free as an expeation?" A person may say, "Well, you mentioned that this is such a major sin in Islam. Why didn't the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam point that out? Why didn't he say this is a major sin that you have committed?" A man comes and says, "I'm done. I'm finished. There's no hope for me. Do you need to tell him, "Hey, by the way, this is a major sin in Islam." He's already got the message. We're past that. Right now, we're at the point of recourse. He's learned the lesson. He knows that this is wrong. We don't need to add on to his despair. And so the messenger of Allah sallallah.aii alaihi wasallam said, "Do you possess a slave that you could free? All freeing of slaves which act as an expeation, the slave must be Muslim." This would not work for a non-Muslim slave. And this and the same goes with feeding. Any charity that is obligatory as an expeation must be to a Muslim, a non-Muslim for optional charity. But an obligatory charity must go to a Muslim if it is an expeation. So for instance feeding you know 10 poor people for for breaking one's vow. These poor people are to be Muslim right there is a difference. This is in obligatory experations. He says no I don't. He said, "Then are you able to fast two consecutive months?" These are two consecutive lunar months, which means that they would never be more than 60 days. And they have to be consecutive, which means that if a person were to not break, not fast for one of those days, fail to fast, they have to restart this from the beginning. very serious, very difficult, not easy at all. He said, "No." In another wording of this narration, he said, "Fasting is what I wasn't able to do in the first place. I wasn't able to do one day and get through it. How could I possibly do two months?" He said, he said, "Then are you able to feed 60 poor people?" That number 60, why 60? Why 60 poor people? Two months. Yeah. Two months. 60 poor people. Two months. Right. But notice what what the what it started with. It started with freeing a slave. Why? Because that's good for the slave. With respect to slavery, we'll finish this narration tomorrow inshallah. With respect to slavery in the time of the prophet sallallah.aii wasallam before his time in Jahyah, slavery was a funnel. Imagine a funnel. There was a very wide entrance. Anything could make you a slave. You could get kidnapped. You could give your kids up for debt. You could be have a gambling problem and trade your kids over for that. You could sell your children into slavery. You could get taken as a prisoner of war. You could get lost in the desert and picked up by some shady characters. But the point is is that all kinds of things would make you a slave. But there's only one way that you could be emancipated. What is that way? Huh? That your that the master emancipates you. Even if you had all the money in the world, the money belongs to him immediately. A slave's money belongs to his master. And hypothetically, if someone were to come and say, "I will purchase this slave for from you for a trillion dollars." And the slave master decides, "No, I don't want to. He cannot be forced to do that or compelled." which is why Abuak was considered to be so dutiful in purchasing the Muslim slaves that were accepting Islam and being punished by their masters. Bil was one of them. He tried to purchase Bil many many times for a long time but he was taken as a personal project by his masters to be tortured. Right? So the point is is that those were the rules that they played by. Islam came and flipped the funnel around. So now there's only one way to end up as a slave. But there are many, many, many ways to be freed, to be emancipated, only one way a person can legitimately end up as a slave. What is that way? Prisoner of war. You're taken on the battlefield fighting actively trying to kill Muslim men on the battlefield. You'll take as a prisoner of war. And no, we don't have a big camp to put you in for us to sink resources into keeping you around. Nope. We'll divide them up as slaves and we'll get some use out of them. Right? And so this was the only way a person would become a slave. But to be emancipated many many many many ways. And one of those ways is if the slave is able to buy his freedom. The slave master must concede unless this is you know unless there are dubious reasons behind it. meaning is some kind of criminal that if he were to be, you know, emancipated, he would he would be bad for society. Other than that, he must concede. And as a matter of fact, Allah made it obligatory upon the Muslim collectively to pay zaka to be able to free slaves that want their emancipation. But not all slaves wanted to be emancipated. As a matter of fact, an argument could be made that it was a lot of times better to remain a slave than it would be to be emancipated because you eat, you drink, you have shelter, you're dressed, you have quarters to live in, you you're set. You're set. You don't have to go make your own way. We will stop there. Inshallah we'll conclude this narration tomorrow.
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No, it applies to both.
[Arabic recitation]
A we'll talk about that tomorrow. I'll bring it up tomorrow.