Legal Status of Ramadan
The observation of Ramadan is mandated by two Islamic
sources, Al-Qur’an and Sunnah, along with Ijmaa, the consen-
sus of the scholars. Al-Qur’an states:
“O, you who believe fasting is prescribed to you,
as it was prescribed to those before you that you
may acquire self-restraint.”
(AlQur’an 2:183)
The proof in this citing is very obvious, for whenever Allah
(SWT) uses the word kutiba, which means, among other things,
prescribed or written, it indicates the action that follows it be-
comes mandatory upon the believers, men and women. After
establishing Sawm, the verse emphasized that this was not the
first time the obligation of fasting had been established, for it
stated that previous nations received the same mandate. We are
not certain about the time, date, and amount.
Many scholars state the introductory clause kamaa implies and
refers to the analogy between our fasting today and the fasting
of previous people. There are similarities in the time and
amount, but what happened to Ramadan is that the high priests,
before the time of Prophet Muhammad (saas) added more days
than were prescribed for them. It became difficult and they
could not do it, so they moved the date to spring until they ne-
glected it altogether.
In a hadith it is reported by Daghfal Imam Hanzalah (raa) that
the Messenger of Allah (saas) said:
“The Christians used to fast one month. So when a man
fell ill amongst them, they vowed if Allah cured him,
they would increase ten more days to their fasting. He
was cured, and the fast became forty days. Then another
man ate meat; his mouth pained him. They vowed again
if Allah cured him, they would add seven more days. He
was cured and the fast increased to forty-seven days.
Then a king fell ill. They vowed again if Allah cured
him, they would complete seven to ten days and move
their fast to the spring. The king was cured and the fast
increased to fifty days.’ 1 ” (Tafseer Al-Qurtabi)
This is how the pillar of religion was neglected. Even some
Christian writer complained,
“For nearly a century and a half, fasting has been out of
vogue, at least in the churches of the West. The very idea of
someone actually fasting today seems strange to most twen-
tieth century Christians. They associate it with medieval
Christianity.” (Fasting a Neglected Discipline)
Some said the analogy is referring to the manner of fasting –
restraint from food and drink and marital relations. The verse
ends with a strong hint to the spiritual benefit of fasting:
“That ye may acquire self-restraint.”
The word used is tataqun. It is originally from waqa, to protect,
the same base word used for fear of Allah, taqwa; for when
you fear Allah, you protect yourself against His wrath and
against things that will destroy yourself.
Taqwa (fear of Allah), is easily achieved with fasting for the
simple reason that, when you fast, you become weak for the
lack of nourishment, which means your cravings are dimin-
ished. With diminished cravings, the sins are greatly lessened,
because there is no energy to fuel them, praise be to Allah.
When sin is lessened, the barometer for taqwah rises.
Elsewhere Allah (SWT) states:
“Ramadan is the month in which was sent down
the Qur’an as a guide to humanity and as a clear
sign for guidance and judgment (between right
and wrong). So anyone of you who witnesses the
month should spend it in fasting…”
(Al-Qur’an, 2:185)
This verse contains important rules and reasons for fasting that
will be explained later. However, what concerns us here is the
statement,
“So anyone of you who witnesses the month
should spend it in fasting.”
There are exceptions, like when traveling, which will be ex-
plained later.
The above examples have been the proof from in Al-Qur’an. As
for the proof from hadith, there are many, amongst them a
hadith reported by Bukhari and Muslim in which the Messen-
ger (saas) states:
“Islam is built on five (pillars), testimony that there is
no deity worthy of worship but Allah, and testimony
that Muhammad is His messenger, establishing Salat,
giving Zakaat, observing the fast of Ramadan, and pil-
grimage to the House of Allah.” (Bukhari/Muslim)
The hadith established fasting during the month of Ramadan as
one of the pillars on which this religion is built. This hadith re-
inforces the obligation of fasting as stated in Al-Qur’an. We
will see later that there are other Hadiths that explain in detail
how to observe the ‘Ebadah, the worship of fasting.
Because of this collection of proofs from both Al Qur’an and
the Sunnah, the Muslim scholars agreed in Ijima’a that absti-
nence from physical nourishment and sex associated with in-
tention to seek Allah’s pleasure is mandatory upon every be-
liever. Before verse (2:185) was revealed, Muslims were com-
manded to fast three days in every month (verse 2:183). This
verse (2:185) was revealed on Monday, Sha’aban 2, in the sec-
ond year of Hijrah, thus, abrogating the earlier order.