Is a headache enough reason to break your fast?

I don't want to know. I'm going to see you.

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Alhamdulillah. Continuing.

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In the book of fasting, the chapter regarding upon whom fasting ing is binding upon whom fasting is obligatory. And so we mentioned yesterday that fasting is obligatory upon anyone who meets five five points of criteria. Five points of criteria. And for females there is an additional which could be counted as a condition could be counted as a something that bars a person from fasting a difference of categorization. But the point is is that it is five points of criteria. Whoever has these five points of criteria meets them simultaneously. Fasting is obligatory upon this p upon this person. He mentions Muslim. So it is the Muslim who is sane over the age of puberty or of the age of puberty healthy and a resident and for a female that she not be in a state of menration or postpartum. And the point here is that you'll find that some scholars mention this as an additional piece of criteria while others categorize this as being something that is in the vein of illness. It's not an illness obviously, but it is in the vein. And so we discussed what is meant by Muslim. We discussed what is meant by sane. We discussed what is meant by the age of puberty. Now we will discuss what is meant by health. Health in the terminology of the faukah with respect to fasting is one of three types of people or one of three types of illnesses. Okay. The first type is a person whose illness is increased by fasting. So fasting directly impacts their condition, directly impacts their illness. And so if they fast, it directly increases or intensifies their illness. That's one. Number two, fasting doesn't doesn't cause their illness to worsen. However, fasting prohibits their recovery. So, it slows their recovery. You've got one person who fasts and fasting now is detrimental to their health. It positively harms them. this person is haram for them to fast. Then you've got another person whom fasting doesn't necessarily increase their illness, but it does hinder their recovery. Right? This is an issue of debate which is better for them to fast or to break their fast. But all of the scholars agree that this type of illness is permissible to fast is permissible to break one's fast. So notice when we discuss difference of opinion it it always sometimes to the untrained eye people often times will hear you know in the books of Phil and the way that scholars speak as if everything is a difference of opinion and that is not the case at all. Most of the legislation of Islam, the huge majority, the vast majority, the overwhelming majority of the laws of Islam are a point of consensus. They are agreed upon. They don't differ on those. Like if you think about it, salah, all the scholars agree that it's obligatory. All the scholars agree that it's five times a day. All the scholars agree in the number of for each. All the scholars agree. Most of it is agreed upon. All of the scholars agree that a person stands and then makes and then stands again and then makes sujud and then sits and then makes sud. All of this is agreed upon. What is disagreed upon? Some details. some details and number two what is better. This is where things start. We start to have differences of opinion. Right? Not yes or no, but which is better in which case or scenario. This is where the difference of opinion really starts to take place. These are details. The majority of Islam is agreed upon. Alhamdulillah. A person may say, "Well, then if that's the case, why are the books of Fil so voluminous? Why are they so big? And why is it that every time you open a book of Fil, it seems to be issues that are disagreed upon?" We say because the aren't going to write about things that are agreed upon. The books of f largely are written in order to discuss and debate the issues of contention. So it's taking a magnifying glass and focusing it on the issues which are differed upon. That's why the books of seem the way they are. However, the majority of Islam is an issue of consensus and this in itself is a miracle. So we have a very small minority here maybe 10% maybe less actually of the laws of Islam which are differed upon and even that 10% or 5% what's differed upon is not yes or no but what's good and better and what's bad and what's worse that's what's differed upon right a difference of opinion of one says yes and the other says no stark opp opposites in this way is rare. Alhamdulillah. That's not only in the laws and the in the issues of but also in the of the Quran. To find an verse where one companion or scholar of comes to the conclusion of yes and the other comes to the conclusion of no. For instance, what what we mean here is is direct conflict is very rare is very rare. Maybe a handful of places in the Quran. Aside from that, most of Islam is agreed upon. So, back to the types of illness or the the way that fasting affects illness, who is allowed to break his fast? Well, we say a person who is ill. This is agreed upon. Number two, if the person fasts, it increases his illness. All the scholars agree it is haram for this person to fast. Okay. The second case, if a person fasts, it hinders his recovery. It slows his recovery. Doesn't increase his illness, but it slows recovery. This is permissible for this person to break his fast. However, is it better for him to break his fast or not? That's an issue we will get into inshallah. The third type is someone whose illness is not affected directly by fasting. However, it is indirectly affected by fasting. What is meant by indirectly affected? that a person is taking some kind of medicine for instance that would normally break his fast. This medicine can't be taken while he's fasting and not taking his medicine will either increase his illness or slow his recovery. So the fasting and the illness are not directly are not directly impact as cause and effect but there is an indirect effect that fasting has and this person is permissible for him to break his fast. All these three types are agreed upon amongst the scholars. They differ now on what is better right? Is it better to fast and push through in Ramadan so that you're fasting with everyone during the month or is it better to break your fast because it's an allowance that Allah has given you and then to make it up at a different or a later date. This is an issue which the author will discuss in the next chapter. So these are the types of illness. A person who is is healthy whom is obligated to fast is a person who fasting does not increase his illness. Fasting does not impede his recovery. Fasting does not indirectly affect his illness. These are the three types. These three if a person has one of them they break their fast and make up a day. Now, what kinds of illnesses are we talking about here? I mean, does it have to be mortal illness? Does it have to be I'm going to die if I fast? Does it have to be that drastic? Or could it could it be something as slight as a headache or a migraine? The scholars have discussed this. The correct opinion is illness is illness. And when a person is affected by any illness, even if it's a momentary illness a headache, they are permitted to break their fast because of this. They are permitted to break their fast because of this. And you know, we have other instances of this, a headache, a toothache, right? some kind of very intense pain that a person is experiencing something that will make their fasting miserable. The point of fasting is not to take you to the brink of death or to make you feel you're at the brink of death. This doesn't accomplish anything. This doesn't help. The point of fasting is to place you in a position of vulnerability and slight discomfort that will remind you of your mortality and can act as a microcosm of our time here on this earth. That's really what fasting is. You know as human beings it's very difficult for us to zoom out and look at the big picture whether it's with size or whether it's with u time right you guys hear astronomers sometimes they say it's 600 billion trillion light years what does that mean it might as well be one inch for the average person we have no way of really conceptualizing such a thing however what we do is we take a microcosm right so if we say okay the distance from here to Mars is whatever you know light years or whatever it is I I'm not an astronomer but you get the point it doesn't really mean much but if I were to say the distance between Earth and Mars relative to the rest of the perceivable universe is the thickness of a credit card in our world. Well, that now means something, right? It's something tangible. We can actually it kind of brings it to life. And this is what Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala does for us in the Quran. In all of the parables of the Quran, the Quran's parables are there to take these big subjects eternity you know 100 years or or or 80 years or 70 years being very brief and to give us an example that is tangible. So what does he tell us about the life of this world? If I say especially to a young man, I say 70 years on this earth is a flash in the pan. Well, a young man hasn't experienced 70 years. They can't even conceptualize that. And so it doesn't really mean anything to them. In their mind, 70 years is a long time. You know, it doesn't sound such a bad deal. But then when we zoom out and we take a microcosm and Allah tells us the life of this world is a rain that comes down on a land. It grows its crops and then at harvest time it is harvested and you see the crops as if they never were alive before. Right? And this imagery that we get now we see the life of this world sped up. We can conceptualize it now because we've all experienced that. This is what fasting is supposed to do. It is a simulation of our life here on this earth and our time with Islam and the laws of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. When we're fasting, we have discomfort and we feel we want to break our fast and we might even but then we make ourselves be patient by focusing on the moment at hand by saying there's only a couple hours left by looking at the sun etc. And then we get through it. And so we stop oursel in the moment so that we can rejoice at the end. And as soon as we break our fast, all the troubles of that day disappear immediately as if it never happened. You won't find someone who has PTSD from fasting because it was so terrible that they are scarred for life. No, it's something that immediately is gone as soon as you break your fast. And that is the life of this world. It is just that. these few years that we live on this earth, we want to do something but we stop oursel from doing it. We hold out and then the angel of death comes and as soon as the angel of death comes for the believer immediately it's that first drop of water on your tongue when you break your fast the dunya is gone. It melts away as if it never was and it was nothing but a distant memory. This is what we are taught in fasting along with other things gratitude for what we take for granted and so forth. But fasting is not supposed to be so egregious, so terrible that the person is in utter misery throughout the day because they're sick or ill or too old or breastfeeding or traveling or anything else. This is why the slightest you know the slightest difference in norm allows you to break your fast because that's the purpose of fasting. It's not supposed to act as a as a hardship. It's supposed to act as a meditation, a a practice. It is something that we practice and we do. It puts us in slight discomfort and it gives us a different view of the world. We see the world in a different light. Subhanahu.

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Glorious.