When Can't We Fast? Five Forbidden Days Explained

Thank you.

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Continuing in Al Wajeez Continuing in Al Wajeez in the book of fasting in the chapter regarding the days in which it is prohibited for a person to fast. So far, we have mentioned four days or four instances where it is impermissible for a person to fast. Let's see if we can review them. The first is eight. So, the first of Shawwal and the 10th of Dhu al-Hijjah. The second Okay. We're getting all of them at once. the days of Tashreeq, right? So, 11th, 12th, 13th of Dhul-Hijjah. Then we had al-Jumu' on its own, isolated. And then the fourth one is Saturday on its own. Okay. Now, we said this applies only to optional fasting, right? If a person for instance, were to have a day of Ramadan to finish, to make up, right? And you know, their day off happens to be a Saturday or happens to be a Friday. Would it be permissible for that person to make that day up on that day? Yes, because it's not an optional fasting, it's an obligatory fasting, right? Okay, the fifth one that the author mentions here is an-nisf min Sha'ban The second half of Sha'ban for a person who isn't who isn't accustomed to fasting at a particular pattern. So, the second half of Sha'ban. Sha'ban is the eighth month. And it is the month just before Ramadan. 15 days before Ramadan or 14 days, once a person hits the 15th of Sha'ban, it becomes impermissible for a person to fast unless they are accustomed to fasting on a particular schedule. Let's say someone usually fasts Mondays and Thursdays. Or a person usually fasts you know, every other day. Or a person usually fasts This person can continue his fast. The only one who is prohibited or the optional fasting which is prohibited at the second half of Shaban is the one who is trying to gear up for Ramadan. They don't have a particular schedule that they adhere to. It's just that Ramadan is approaching so they begin to fast early. This is impermissible. It is not permissible to fast after the second or during the second half of Shaban. He says on the authority of Abu Hurairah who narrates that the messenger of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said if the second half of Shaban commences, then do not fast. If the second half of Shaban commences, do not fast.

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Also on the authority of Abu Hurairah who narrates that the messenger of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said none of you is to fast a day or two before Ramadan begins unless it is someone who has a particular schedule or pattern that they fast upon throughout the year, then you may adhere to that schedule. Now, this narration is more akin to the next prohibition, or the next prohibited time of fasting. So, we have the second half of Sha'ban. And then, the sixth that the author mentions is Yawm al-Shakk. The the day of the doubted day, the day of doubt. What is the day of doubt? What is Yawm al-Shakk? Yawm al-Shakk is when we are looking for the moon for Ramadan. We are looking for the crescent for Ramadan. Ramadan, the crescent may be today, may be tomorrow, right? is is Ramadan going to be tomorrow? Very likely Ramadan will be tomorrow, but we haven't seen the moon yet, so therefore, we are unsure if Ramadan is tomorrow or not. Let me go ahead and fast it just to be safe. This is a prohibited time of fasting, and this is positively prohibited in the following narration.

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He says, "On the authority of Ammar ibn Yasir, who narrates, or who says, 'Whoever fasts on the day which is on the dubious day, the day of doubt, the dubious day, then this person has this person has disobeyed Abu al-Qasim. Abu al-Qasim is the prophet sal Allah who alayhi wasallam. That was his kunya. So, here Ammar ibn Yasir is telling us that if a person fasts on that day in which the moon has not been sighted, but it could have likely been sighted, but we're unsure, there is shak there. Ramadan has either started or it has not. And we mentioned that this all pours into the general rule that is the month the crescent is the crescent the month of any any month? That's the question. Is the crescent the actual month? All right. Faisal remembers because we discussed this day or two before Ramadan started. Right? Now it feels a thousand years ago, but if you remember back before Ramadan started this year we discussed the moon sighting rulings. And one of the things that we One of the conclusions that we arrived at is that the crescent is not the month. What is the month? You remember? The cycle A moon is the indication. It is the sign of the month. But the actual month is what? 29 or 30 days. No. Ijtima' al-nas. Yeah. Ash-shahru min al-ishtihar. All right. Ash-shahru is from is taken from even the the the word itself is taken from something that is public. And so a shahada even by its actual name articulates the meaning of public. When it becomes publicly acknowledged, that is the month. The month is the acknowledgement of the majority of people, not the crescent. The crescent is not the month. Okay? Very easy for you to remember. A shahada a shahada my name Mashhur, right? Mashhur public, well-known, right? That is what the word shahada is taken from. It's taken from that same root meaning, which is something becoming well-known, becoming public, becoming accepted, becoming widely acknowledged. This is called a shahada. So a shahada is commenced either by exactly 30 days going by to where it can no longer possibly be the previous month anymore. Or number two, the acknowledgement of the majority of people. It is not the crescent. The crescent is an indicator for the month. Therefore, when we look and we are looking for the crescent and we say, "Well, it could have been seen, maybe it was seen. I didn't see it, but perhaps and it's cloudy and the last night the clouds were out and there was overcast and the the you know, the crescent could have been there. We just weren't able to see it." It doesn't matter if the crescent was there or not. As a matter of fact, it doesn't matter if the crescent was seen by even one person unless we have widespread acknowledgement of the month or 30 days have been completed of the previous month the month has not started yet. The month has not started yet. So, there is no day of doubt really. There is no doubt. It either is or it is not Ramadan. There is no maybe it's Ramadan, but we don't know that it's Ramadan. So, Ramadan is actually happening somewhere, but we have no idea that it's happening. This doesn't exist. This is a hypothetical that is non-existent. Therefore, the prophet Sallallahu alaihi wasallam positively prohibited that a person fast during what? During the day that is referred to as Yawm ash-Shakk. Which is the 30th day which falls between two months. It could either be the 30th day or it could be the first day. This day is referred to as what day? Yawm ash-Shakk. Right? And there is no such thing as a doubtful month commencing. It either is or it isn't the month. Even if the crescent was obscured or overcast or what have you, right? This is a very important point and if many people if many of the Muslimeen actually understood this point in America for instance much of the differing that we have would what? Would would disappear. All right? Cuz the prophet Sallallahu alaihi wasallam says As-sawmu yawma tasumun wal-fitru.

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Chapter or for the whole book. What do you think? Should we continue in this book or revert back to Riyadh as-Salihin? We could start back at the book of Salah. Huh? You think we should continue? That's your opinion? Okay. Well, thank you for that. Maybe we will continue. We'll see.