Believers! Fasting is enjoined upon you, as it was enjoined upon those
before you, that you become God fearing. Quran 2:183
Fasting is for a fixed number of days, and if one of you be sick, or
if one of you be on a journey, you will fast the same number of other
days later on. For those who are capable of fasting (but still do not
fast) there is a redemption: feeding a needy man for each day missed.
Whoever, voluntarily, does more good than is required, will find it is
better for him; and that you shouldfast is better for you, if you only
know. Quran 2:184
During the month of Ramadan the Qur'an wassent down as a guidanceto
the people with clear signs of the true guidance, and as the Criterion
(between right and wrong). So those of you who live to see that month
should fast it, andwhoever is sick or on a journey should fast the
same number of other days instead. Allah wants ease and not hardship
for you so that you may complete the number of days required,magnify
Allah for what He has guided you to, and give thanks to Him. Quran
2:185
1. Like most other injunctions of Islam those relating to fasting were
revealed gradually. In the beginning the Prophet had instructed the
Muslims tofast three days in every month, though this was not
obligatory. When theinjunction in the present verse was later revealed
in 2 A.H., a degree of relaxation was introduced: it was stipulated
that those who did not fast despite their capacity to endure it were
obliged to feed one poor person as an expiation for each day
ofobligatory fasting missed(see verse 184). Another injunction was
revealed later (see verse 185) and here the relaxation in respect of
able-bodied persons was revoked. However, for the sick, thetraveler,
the pregnant, the breast-feeding women and the aged who could not
endure fasting, the relaxation was retained.
(See Bukhari, `Tafsir al-Qur'an', 25; Tirmidhi, 'Sawm', 21; Nasa'i,
`Siyam', 51, 62, 64; Ibn Majah, `Siyam', 12; Ahmad b. Hanbal, Musnad,
vol. 3, p. 104; vol. 4, pp. 347 and 418; vol. 5, p. 29 - Ed.)
2. This act of extra merit could either be feeding more than the one
person required or both fasting and feeding the poor.
3. Here ends the early injunction with regard tofasting which was
revealed in 2 A.H. prior tothe Battle of Badr. The verses that follow
were revealed about one year later and are linked with the preceding
verses since they deal with the same subject.
4. Whether a person shouldor should not fast while on a journey is
left to individual discretion. We find that among the Companions who
accompanied the Prophet on journeys some fasted whereas others did
not; none objected to the conduct of another. The Prophet himself did
not always fast when traveling. On one journey a person was so
overwhelmed by hunger that he collapsed; the Prophet disapproved when
he learned that the man had been fasting. During wars the Prophet used
toprevent people from fasting so that they would not lack energy for
the fight. It has been reported by 'Umar that two military expeditions
took place in the month of Ramadan. The first was the Battle of Badr
and the second the conquest of Makka. On both occasions the Companions
abstained from fasting, and, according to Ibn 'Umar, on the occasion
of the conquest of Makka the Prophet proclaimed that people should not
fast since it was a day of fighting. In other Traditions the Prophet
is reported to have said that people should not fast when they had
drawn close. to the enemy, since abstention from fasting would lead to
greater strength.
(See Ahmad b. Hanbal, Musnad, vol. 3, p. 329, and vol. 5, pp. 205 and
209; Darimi, `Sawm', 41; Muslim, `Siyam', 92; Nasa'i, `Siyam', 47;
Bukhari, `Maghazi', 71; Muslim, `Siyam', 102; Ahmad b. Hanbal, Musnad,
vol. 3, pp. 21, 35, .46; Tirmidhi, 'Sawm',18; Nasa'i, `Siyam', 52;
Bukhari, `Jihad', 29; Muslim, `Siyam', 98; Abu Da'ud, 'Sawm', 42;
Muslim, `Siyam', 102, 103, 105; Ahmad b. Hanbal, Musnad, vol. 2, 99;
Tirmidhi, 'Sawm', 19 -Ed.)
The duration of a journey for which it becomes permissible for a
person to abstain from fasting is not absolutely clear from any
statementof the Prophet.
(cf. relevant Traditions Abu Da'ud, 'Sawm', 46, 47; Nasa'i, `Siyam',
54, 55; Malik, Muwatta', `Siyam', 21, 27 - Ed.)....
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