10. FASTING IN RAMADAN (3)

10. FASTING IN RAMADAN (3)

A. Ikhtilāf al-maṭāli‘ (إخْتِلاَفُ الْمَطَالِع, the difference regarding the time and point of rising of the crescent).

      Muslims all over the world start fasting in the month of Ramadan. They know it by seeing the crescent, as the Prophet said: “Start fasting when you see the crescent, and stop fasting when you see it. And if it is cloudy, complete Sha’ban thirty days.”[1] However, Muslim scholars have different views about the area where the crescent appears, known as ikhtilāf al-maṭāli‘. Their main differences are as follows:

(a)  Shāfi‘ī school. This school considers ikhtilāf al-maṭāli‘ in deciding the beginning and the end of Ramadan. People in distant places will have different maṭla‘ (time and point of rising crescent) which should not be less than 24 farsakh (24x5544 m = 133.056 km). Therefore, if we stick to this school, people in Canberra, Sydney and Melbourne, should have their own maṭla‘ for having distance from each other over 133 km. People travelling from one place to another have to follow the rule of the area of destination, not of their departure. If one is traveling while he is still fasting and arrives the area where people break the fasting and celebrate the ‘Id festival, he has to break his fasting like the people in the area of his destination. If the traveller has broken his fast and arrives at the area where people are still fasting, he has to fast the remaining of the day as he has become one of the people in that area. The argument of this school is from the Sunnah of the Prophet, qiyās, (analogy), and ma‘qūl (common sense).

With regard to the Sunnah of the Prophet: (1) Ummu al-Faḍl sent Kurayb to Mu‘āwiyah in Syria, where people saw the crescent on Thursday night and Mu‘āwiyah as well as people there started fasting. When he returned to Madinah at the end of the month, ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Abbās asked him about when they saw the crescent. He told him that it was on Thursday night, whereas in Madinah they saw it on Friday night. They kept fasting until they saw the crescent or complete thirty days of the month. When Kurayb asked ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Abbās whether the sight of the crescent in Syria and the fasting of Mu‘āwiyah would be sufficient for people of Madinah, he answered: No, that is what the Messenger of Allah ordered us. (2) Ibn ‘Umar said, that the Messenger of Allah said: “The (lunar) month is twenty-nine days, so do not fast until you see its crescent, and do not stop fasting until you see its crescent; but if it is cloudy, make calculation of it.” This indicates that the injunction of fasting depends on seeing the crescent, although not by everybody, but by some people.

With regard to qiyās, they compare the rising of the crescent with that of the sun in different places, so that the times of prayer would also be different.

With regard to common sense: the injunction of fasting depends on the beginning of Ramadan, and the beginning of the month differs in distant places, so that the beginning of Ramadan is also different in different places.

(b) The majority of scholars do not consider the ikhtilāf al-maṭāli‘. Accoding to Ḥanafī school people in the East have to accept the sight of the crescent by people in the West. According to Mālikī school if the crescent is seen people have to fast in the whole country, near country or distant one, disregarding the distance of qaṣr  (where prayer can be shortened, about 89 km), if the sight is reported by at least two honest people. According to Ḥanbalī school if the    crescent is seen in one place, either near or distant, everybody has to fast, as the ruling of the person who has not seen it is like that of the one who has seen it.

          The argument of the scholars in the mass is also based Sunnah and qiyās. They say that the Prophet ordered the Muslims to fast and break fasting with the sight of the crescent is applicable to the whole Muslims in Muslim lands, not of certain areas. With qiyas there should be no difference between the near cities of the country where the crescent is seen and distant places, as making difference is not based on evidence but on personal judgment.

          This view of the vast majority of scholars was considered the more acceptable one by Prof. Dr. Wahbah al-Zuḥylī in his al-Fiqh al-Islāmī wa Adillatuhu (Islamic Jurisprudence and its Evidences). This would unite the Muslims in their worship in fasting, and to avoid the unacceptable difference in our era, as the prescription of fasting depends on seeing the crescent disregarding the areas. This idea of uniting the beginning of legal month among Islamic governments is supported by astronomy. The longest time between the rise of the crescent in the most distant Islamic country and that in another distant Islamic country is nine hours, so that all of them share some parts of the same night. Therefore, they can inform each other of the sight of the crescent through telephone. With the advance of technology communication has become faster and much easier than before.

    For example, based on Greenwich Meridian time, if it is 12.00 noon in Morocco (including Algeria, Spain, France and England) in the Western part of the Muslim land, it will be 9.00 pm in the Eastern part of the Muslim land (West Papua in Indonesia),  including Central Australia, Japan and Korea  with nine-hour difference. If someone sees the crescent at 6.00 p.m. in Jakarta, people in Tangier in Morocco, with seven hour difference, at 1.00 p.m. will know that the next day there will be the first day of Ramadan or the ‘Id festival day. If they see the crescent at 6.00 p.m. people in Jakarta, with seven hour difference, at 1.00 a.m. they will still have time to have their saḥūr (pre-dawn meal). At the most distant part of Indonesia (West Papua) at 3.00 a.m. they still have much time of their saḥūr, as fajr is about 5.00 a.m.

    Based on this view, any Muslim who has seen the crescent in the Muslim world, from Tangier in Morocco to Merauke in Indonesia, every Muslim has to accept it, either start fasting or break their fast. There will no longer any embarrassing situation where Muslims start fasting and celebrate Ramadan in different time on different day.

    The position of Muhammadiyah organization in Indonesia will become more important in deciding the beginning and the end of Ramadan based on ḥisāb (astronomical calculation). Although Muhammadiyah’s use of ḥisāb is not considered by many as valid, because it is not based of ru’yah (seeing the crescent) as prescribed by the Prophet, it will help people to know the approximate day when they can see the crescent. It is almost impossible that not a single person in the whole Muslim world is able to see the crescent which has been visible based on Muhammadiyah’s calculation. Let us hope that one day this dream of unity in deciding the start and end of Ramadan will come true.

B.    People exempted from fasting.

There are nine categories of people who are exempted from fasting: pregnancy, baby-nursing, compulsion,

travelling, sickness, jihād, hunger, thirst, and old age. They are put in poetry to facilitate memorization, as follows:

(البحر الرجز: مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن)

وَعَوَارِضُ الصَّوْمِ الَّتِيْ قَدْ يُغْتَفَر *  لِلْمَرْءِ فِيْهَا الْفِطْرُ تِسْعٌ تُسْتَطَرْ

حَبْلٌ وَ إِرْضَاعٌ وَ إِكْرَاهٌ سَفَرْ *  مَرَضٌ جِهَادٌ جَوْعَةٌ عَطْشٌ كِبَرْ

The obstacles of fasting in which people could be

forgiven for not fasting are in record nine cases:

Pregnancy, nursing baby, compulsion, traveling,

sickness, jihad, hunger, thirst, and old age

C.    Things which do not spoil/invalidate the fast:

1.    To eat or drink forgetfully or mistakenly, or due to compulsion. The Prophet said:

Whoever forgot while he was fasting and ate or

drink he should complete his fast, for it was Allah

 Who fed him and gave him to drink )Agreed upon)

          The Prophet also said:

Allah has laid off for my ummah (the burden of)

 mistakes and forgetfulness and what they are

 forced to do against their wills

 (Reported by al-Ṭabrānī)

2.    Unintentional vomiting: The Prophet said:

One who happened to vomit while fasting, there is

 no qaḍā (make up) on him (Reported by al-Ḥākim)

3.    Swallowing one’s own saliva

4.    Gurgling (has to be done with care)

5.    Tooth brushing

6.    Smelling food’s aroma

7.    Unintentional blood coming out from wound if it does not cause headache and fainting.

8.    Temporal fainting

9.    Unintended vomiting, such as being sick or carsick, seasick, and airsick.

10.    Unintended sperm emission, such as wet-dreaming.

D.   Things which invalidate fasting are as follows:

1.    Intentional eating and drinking, including smoking. In general, anything entering the two orifices, including suppositories.

2.    Having sexual relation. This is a major offence with heavy penalty: freeing a slave if he has, and as there is no more slavery, it is fasting for 2 month in succession, and if unable to do so, paying fidyah by feeding 60 poor people if he is able to do so. If not, it remains his obligation until he is able to do so.

3.    Intentional sperm emission

4.    Intentional vomiting

5.    Menstruation and nifās (40-day period after childbirth).

6.    Injection (there are different opinions on it, and to be safe it would be better to avoid or delay it until night).

7.    Loss of consciousness or becoming mad.

E.     Things which could reduce the reward or remove the reward of fasting:

1.    Telling a lie

2.    Gossiping, slanderous gossips, back-biting, playing one against the other, etc.

3.    Giving false testimony.

4.    Abusing, cursing, and being rude in expression and behaviour out of anger.

5.    Expressing useless words.

6.    Shouting and quarrelling

7.    Jealousy, hatred and envy which could harm others.

8.    Looking at the opposite sex with lust.

9.    Kissing the opposite sex who is not a muḥrim (a person who is closely related that marriage is impossible and prohibited, such as brother-sister, daughter-uncle, son-aunt)

10.                       Stealing, cheating, etc.  

(CIVIC, 16 May, 2017)

 المراجع:

الزحيلى, أ.د. وهبة. الفقة الإسلامي وأدلته. ج 3. دمشق: دار الفكر المعاصر, 1427\2006 

Bin Jamil Zeno. The Pillars of Islam & Iman. Riyadh: Dār al-Salām, 1416/1996

The Maccuarie Illustrated World Atlas, 1990.

www.tuliat.com

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[1]The average length of the lunar month is 29.530589 days. For our convenience we make the months alternately 29 days (termed hollow months) and 30 days (termed full months).