# Pillar 4: Who Should Fast? | Convert Resources **Author:** Sh. Abdullah Oduro **Series:** 5 Pillars Made Plain **Published:** 2020-10-13 **YouTube:** https://youtu.be/Z2Bl2sKtDb4 **URL:** https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/five-pillars-of-islam/pillar-4-who-should-fast **Topics:** Acts of Worship, Sharia ## Description Fasting in Ramadan is an obligation on the mature, sane Muslim. Through Allah’s limitless mercy, we learn that there are three groups of people who are excused from this act of worship. Join Sh. Abdullah as he details the different categories of exception, time frames for making up a fast, and what... ## Transcript **[0:00]** As-salamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. May the peace and blessings of Allah be upon you all. I'm Abdullah Oduro and welcome. Who is fasting obligatory upon? **[0:15]** We say fasting is obligatory upon every sane, mature Muslim. And we talked about that. The one that is sane, mature, and Muslim. Because when Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la starts off the verse that we talked about earlier when he says, **[0:30]** "'O you who believe, that fasting has been prescribed upon you as it was upon the people before you, perhaps you may be of the mindful ones.'" So when looking at this, we divide it into three categories. Of the ones that are sane, mature, and Muslim, **[0:46]** there are three general exceptions. The first category is of those that are allowed to break their fast but must make it up. Now those are of types. The first one is the traveler. The second is the sick person. **[1:03]** And the third can be the one who is pregnant and breastfeeding at the same time. So when we look at the one that is sick, it's a sickness that is unbearable. You know, the sickness that would make you call into work truthfully. The one that, a migraine, headache, **[1:18]** you know, something that you cannot handle. If you have the flu, the common cold that has reached an unbearable level, that is where you are allowed to break your fast but you must make it up. The time frame that you have for making up these fasts are the rest of the 11 months after the month of Ramadan. **[1:36]** So if you've, you know, broke your fast for three, four days or a week, then you have seven days to make up. You have the 11 months till the next Ramadan to make that up. The traveler is the second category. And the traveler is the one that goes to another city. **[1:53]** And what constitutes traveling is where a person leaves their civilization or their habitat, which is generally characterized by the absence of buildings and of residential homes. So when you're traveling, for instance, you know, we're in a city in the South. **[2:10]** If you were to go to, you know, from Dallas to Houston, when you see the absence of buildings and you see wilderness, you see mountains, you see gas stations that, you know, no one lives around there, now you know that you are a traveler. To where in praying, you're able to shorten your prayers. **[2:28]** And here in the month of Ramadan, you do not have to fast. You can break your fast. Even when you reach your destination that you are traveling to, you don't have to fast. You can be someone that eats and drinks regularly and be intimate regularly. **[2:44]** The third category is the person that is pregnant or breastfeeding. If they fear for themselves, or if they fear for their child, or if they fear for both themselves and their child, if they were to fast, primarily, ideally, **[2:59]** if it is confirmed by a physician not to do so, then they can break their fast, but they have to make it up in the remainder of the 11 months, if possible, inshallah ta'ala. The second group of people are the ones that are not allowed to fast, **[3:16]** and they do have to make it up. And those are the, primarily the women that are on their menses. During the time of their menses, as we know, they are not allowed to pray, and they don't have to make their prayers up. But for Ramadan, the days that they missed in Ramadan, **[3:33]** they are not allowed to fast, and they have to make those days up. They are not allowed to fast, and they have to make those days up. And also, any individual that is of an unbearable sickness, they are not allowed to fast, **[3:49]** because Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala mentions that you should not use your hands for your own destruction. If more than one reliable physician tells you, you cannot fast, do not fast, then in this situation, you are not allowed to fast, **[4:04]** and you should make those days up. The third category are the individuals that it is allowed to break your fast, and you don't have to make those days up. And depending on the condition, then it may not be allowed for you to fast, you may fall into the second category, **[4:20]** depending, what do we mean by that? The elderly person is the first category, the one who is elderly, and has been told by a physician that you cannot fast, because of your chronic condition, your situation to where you will have to eat, **[4:36]** you have to get your sugar intake, you know, whatever the case may be, to where he confirms that you have to take a certain amount of medicine, maybe insulin or something of this nature, some type of something that nourishes you, then you cannot fast, or it's allowed for you to not fast, **[4:54]** but you do not have to make the days up, but you have to feed a poor person for every day missed. It's preferable to feed the poor person upon the commencement of Maghrib prayer. When people are breaking their fast, **[5:09]** that is when you can go and feed a poor person, for every day missed being 30 days. Now, the way that you can do that are numerous. You can either wait till the end of Ramadan and feed 30 poor people and have a feast at your home, and feed 30 poor people, **[5:25]** or you can feed a person for every day at the end of that particular day, or you can feed one person the amount of 30 people in food. Now, this is another good opportunity for you **[5:40]** to give da'wah or tell people about Islam, and telling them that this is what Islam orders me to do, this is what it's prescribed upon me, and this is how I come closer to God and show thanks and gratitude towards Him. **[5:56]** So in summary, those are the three categorizations of the people that have to fast. Firstly, we said it has to be a mature, sane Muslim, and of those three that are the exceptions that in this categories are the one that is allowed to break their fast, but they have to make it up, **[6:13]** the one that is obliged to break their fast, and they have to make them up, and the one that is allowed to break their fast, and they don't have to make it up, they have to feed a poor person for every day missed. We ask Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la to make you of those that abide by his shari'ah, by the law of Islam, **[6:29]** and understand that the law of Islam is a means of coming closer to Him in this beautiful, beautiful month. As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. 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