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FASTING (SIYAM)
(According to the Qur'an and Sunnah,
as extracted and inferred by scholars of the Hanafi school.)
From "Mukhtasar al-Quduri", a matn of Hanafi fiqh
The Obligation of Fasting
The Intention
Sighting the Crescent
For Ramadan
For `Id
Actions of the Fasting Person
Things that do not break the fast
Things that are disliked for the fastiung person
Things that break the fast and require a makeup
Things that break the fast, and require makeup and expiation
Excuses
Those who may postpone fasting
Making up missed fasts
Fidyah
Seclusion
1.0 THE OBLIGATION OF FASTING
1. The time for fasting is from the rising of the second dawn until the setting of the sun.
2. Fasting is : abstention from eating, drinking and sexual intercourse by day with the intention.
3. If in Ramadan a child reached adulthood, or an unbeliever accepted Islam, they abstain [from things which invalidate fasting] for the remainder of that day, and fast that which comes thereafter. They do not make up what passed.
4. If a traveller arrives [at his place of residence], or a [menstruating] woman attains purity with part of the day [remaining], they abstain [from those things which invaliate fasting] for the rest of that day.
1.0 THE INTENTION
Fasting is of two sorts : obligatory and supererogatory (nafl).
1. The obligatory is of two sorts :
among it is that which is attached to a specific time, such as the fast of ramadan, and a specified vow. The fasting of [this category] is valid with an intention from the night, but if one did not intend until the morning, the intention suffices him between [dawn] and {the middle of the day}.
The second sort is that which becomes obligatory to fulfil, such as the make-up [fasts] of Ramadan, unrestricted vows, and atonements. These are not valid without an intention from the night.
2. All of the nafl is valid with an intention before {the middle of the day}.
2.0 SIGHTING THE CRESCENT
3.1 For Ramadan
1. It is imperative for the people to seek the new crescent on the twenty-ninth day of Sha`ban. Then, if they see it, they fast [the following day], but if it is obscured from them, they complete the couting of Sha`ban as thirty days and then fast [after that].
2. Whoever sights the new crescent of Ramadan alone fasts, even if the imam does not accept his testimony.
3. If there is some obstruction in the sky, the imam accepts the testimony of one upright [Muslim] - be that male or female, free-man or slave - for the sighting of the crescent. But, if there is no obstruction in the sky, [one individual’s] testimony is not accepted until a large multitude sight it, by whose report [certain] knowledge is attained.
3.2 For `Id
1. Someone who alone sights the crescent for ending the fast does not stop fasting.
2. When there is some obstruction in the sky, only the testimony of two men, or one man and two women, is accepted for [sighting of] the crescent for ending the fast. But, if there is no obstruction in the sky, only the testimony of a large multitude -- by whose report [certain] knowledge is attained -- is accepted.
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