When Can't You Fast? Islamic Rulings Clarified

I'm about to continuing in Al Wajeez in the book of fasting the chapter regarding the days in which the prophet prohibited a person fast. The first set of days that the author mentions is the two days of Eid. So, the first of Shawwal and the 10th of of Dhul-Hijjah. The second are Tashreeq, the days of Tashreeq. We said those days are which days of which month? Ayyam al-Tashreeq. 11, 12, 13 of Dhul-Hijjah, very good. And the third that the author mentions here is Yawm al-Jumu'. We're starting to notice a pattern here. Right? The two days of Eid. Those are yearly yearly holidays, if you will, or commemorative days. And then the second are the days of Tashreeq, which are an extension of a holiday. The third now that he mentions is the day of Jumu' alone, by itself, which is a type of weekly holiday, isn't it? It's a recurring event, it's a recurring mass right of Islam, but it recurs every week rather than every year. And so on the day of Jumu', a person is permitted to fast under the condition that they do not fast that day alone. To fast the day of Jumu' and to choose the day of Jumu' as a solitary day to fast is prohibited. And when we speak about choosing a solitary day to fast, etc., we're speaking about siyam al-tatawwu', the optional fasting. These rules do not apply to obligatory fasting except for the days of Eid. Except for the days of Eid and in the opinion of the majority, the days of al-Tashreeq as well. Right? However, the day of Jumu', if a person were to single out the day of Jumu' for fasting, but it is an obligatory fast. Right? Not just make up days from Ramadan, but an obligatory fast such as a kaffarah, such as something of that sort, then in this case fasting the day of Jumu' would be permissible. And this is very similar to the prohibitions on times in which a person is prohibited from praying. It's not any prayer. It is optional prayer during these particular times. But obligatory prayer, all of the scholars agree that these times of prohibition do not apply to obligatory prayer. You know, we have one of the most dangerous things is having a part an incomplete part of knowledge. This is dangerous. It's an It's like having a gun, a loaded gun with the safety off, with your finger on the trigger, pointing it at people, or pointing it at yourself. It's dangerous. Right? Because you think that the gun is safe, but it's not. A part or incomplete knowledge is dangerous in that same way. A person thinks that they have the whole picture, but really they're missing a part. So, for instance, many people have heard. Many people have heard. And now I'm speaking from experience that I actually thought this as well before I started studying. And that is that how many of us have heard that it is prohibited to pray after the sun rises until it is high after Fajr, right? Until it's above the horizon. And the same thing for after Asr. Many people, you would be surprised, or maybe you wouldn't, the amount of people that would wake up at Fajr, at that time, and not pray Fajr, and wait until the sun rises fully and completely to make Fajr. Right? So, they'll sit there and watch the sun as the time of Fajr passes, as the sun climbs in the sky, they say, "Nope, can't pray now. The sun is rising." This is not at all what the prophet intended. This applies to optional prayer. And it doesn't even apply to all optional prayer. Right? As we will learn, in sha Allah. very specific types of optional prayer. And the same thing goes with fasting. These days which are prohibited to fast is a person just randomly choosing this particular day to single out in fasting in an optional fast. And this is important. Why is it important? Well, a person could fast the entire day and their fast be fast be invalid. Does a good intention cover for that lack of knowledge in this kind of instance? No, it does not. You have to learn before you do something. That is the danger. The overarching danger that we face is this common misconception that as long as my intention is pure, I can just, you know, do things. And even if I'm wrong, it's okay. That's not how it works. It's not how the physical world works, and that's not how the Quran and Sunnah works. If you have access to knowledge and you fail to obtain that knowledge before approaching Allah and worshipping Allah Subhana Wa Ta'ala, if that fails, it fails. Good deeds do not make up for the good intentions do not make up for those kinds of mistakes. And so, fasting the day of Jumu' munfaridan, on its own. Right? Fasting the day of Jumu' as a solitary day.

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So, he mentions the narration of Abu Hurairah who states that I heard the prophet say, "None of you is to fast on the day of Jumu' except that he is to fast a day before it or a day after it." So, either a person fasts Thursday and Friday, or he fasts Friday and Saturday. Now, of course, the name of the book is Al Wajeez, the the concise or the abridged book, right? And because of that, he doesn't mention all of the evidences for any particular issue. But there is another narration in which the prophet said, spoke to one of his wives, she was fasting, and it was Jumu'. And so, he asked her, now she had Imagine, she had already begun fasting on the day of Jumu'. He asked her, "Did you fast yesterday?" She said, "No." He said, "Are you going to fast tomorrow?" She said, "No." He said, and he told her to break her fast. Sallallahu alayhi wasallam. And he prohibited her from fasting Friday alone. Now, that narration is not as powerful as the one we just heard, which is why the author chose this one because of one reason, and that is the audience. In that narration, it's just one, his wife. In this narration, he is speaking to the Muslimin in general. He says, right? But, both narrations mean the same thing, and that is that the day of Jumu' is not to be fasted, it's not to be observed in fasting on its own without a day before or a day after. And the same rule applies for the day of Saturday, which is the next one that the author mentions. Saturday alone. So, not fasting Friday or not fasting Sunday with it.

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He narrates that his sister, Asma, she narrates that the Prophet Sallallahu alayhi wasallam said, "None of you is to fast on the day of Saturday except for an obligatory fast. None of you is to fast on Saturday, a fast that is not obligatory. And if you don't even have anything to eat, then and all you had were the leaves of a tree, then or a stick from a tree, a twig from a tree, or a branch, then take it and chew it so as to ensure that your fast is broken, not even be associated with fasting on Saturday, a day that is not obligatory. Now, where did he get, the author, where did he get from this narration that you are not to fast Saturday by itself? The narration that he quotes is not what he said in the in his commentary. The author in his commentary said, "Saturday on its own." So, he gave it the same rule as Friday. But, then the narration, the Prophet Sallallahu alayhi wasallam says, "Do not fast Saturday unless it's obligatory." So, how did the author come to that? Well, he came to that because of the previous narration. Right? If a person is fasting on Friday and fasts on Saturday because of Friday, that is not an obligatory fast. Some scholars have viewed that as an obligatory fast, but it is not. It is still an optional fast. likewise, there are other instances that we will get into, other instances in the Sunnah, in which exceptions are shown to this general rule. But, in general, people, you know, in mass are not usually the the way of the Prophet Sallallahu alayhi wasallam in teaching people is he does not teach the general audience exceptions to rules. He teaches them general rules. Right? Exceptions to rules, he teaches to either those who come asking about them, those to whom the exceptions apply, or to those who are, you know, his his his most knowledgeable companions, those who understand how to balance exceptions and rules. But, the general masses of people, usually people, they are on one of two modes, either yes or no, black or white, right? Right or wrong, haram or halal, wajib or right? They can't balance both. And so, you won't find often in the Sunnah that the Prophet Sallallahu alayhi wasallam teaches the general audience exceptions to a rule. He'll usually just teach them what? The general for instance, backbiting, backbiting your Muslim brother. Is it absolutely impermissible, no matter what the situation? Of course not. There are instances in which it's obligatory. But, he never taught something that on the minbar. Why? Because the general masses of people, they either have yes or no. They have two gears, right? They have forward or reverse. That's all they got. And so, if you teach them "Backbiting is haram, except one instance or two instances or three instances." Everybody who wants to backbite someone is going to feel like that applies to them. They're special. That's They're the Right? How many times have you read, for instance, in a a book of fatawa where a scholar will say, "This is permissible under the condition of" and the listener shut off as soon as he heard the word permissible, that's it. The rest of it, he ignored it. He didn't even hear the rest of "under the condition" or "provided" or right? It's just how people are, and that and that's not just, you know, Muslims with their religion, that's anyone who is not skilled in a field, any field. Details come with scholarship in any field, any field. Right? Even in eating. Eating, a chef has a much more refined palate and can taste things that a regular person can't taste, they can't appreciate it. Right? They can eat french fries drenched in ketchup and it tastes fine to them. Right? Where that would be disgusting to a chef who was spending all day making these refined meals. Why? Because this person is advanced in his field. Anyone who advances in their field, they start to appreciate detail. But, the general people, they don't appreciate detail naturally. They have to learn that. And so, the Prophet Sallallahu alayhi wasallam, he understands this. So, he didn't teach details in a mass scale. He taught that to his closest companions, the most knowledgeable, or someone who would come and this detail applies to them in that specific instance.

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Alaykum salaam. Isha tonight is at 8:30. Okay, so Isha tonight, starting tonight is at 8:30.