Siyaam in Arabic means abstaining; in Islam it means abstaining from things that break the fast, from dawn until sunset, having first made the intention (niyyah) to fast.
Ruling on fasting
The ummah is agreed that fasting the month of Ramadaan is obligatory, the evidence for which is in the Qur’aan and Sunnah.
Allah says (interpretation of the meaning):
“O you who believe! Observing al sawn (the fasting) is prescribed for you as it was prescribed for those before you, that you may become al muttaqoon (the pious).” [al Baqarah 2:183]
The Prophet (salla Allaho 3alaihi wasallam) said: “Islam is built on five [pillars]…” among which he mentioned fasting in Ramadaan." (Reported by al Bukhaari, al Fath, 1/49).
Whoever breaks the fast during Ramadaan without a legitimate excuse has committed a serious major sin, The Prophet (salla Allaho 3alaihi wasallam) said, describing a dream that he had seen: “… until I was at the mountain, where I heard loud voices. I asked, ‘What are these voices?’ They said, ‘This is the howling of the people of Hellfire.’ Then I was taken [to another place], and I saw people hanging from their hamstrings, with the corners of their mouths torn and dripping with blood. I said, ‘Who are these?’ They said, ‘The people who broke their fast before it was the proper time to do so,’ i.e., before the time of iftaar.” (Saheeh al Targheeb, 1/420).
Al Haafiz al Dhahabi (ra7imahullah) said, “Among the believers it is well-established that whoever does not fast in Ramadaan without a valid excuse is worse than an adulterer or drunkard; they doubt whether he is even a Muslim at all, and they regard him as a heretic and profligate.”
Shaykh al Islam [Ibn Taymiyah] (ra7imahullah) said: “If a person does not fast in Ramadaan knowing that it is haraam but making it halaal for himself to do so, kill him; and if he does it because he is immoral [but believes it is haraam], then punish him for not fasting.”(Majmoo’ al Fataawa, 25/265).
~ Shaykh Muhammad Saalih al Munajjid
(To be continued insha Allah)
said:
