n37 28 The Major Sins Series - Not Fasting Ramadan- Abu Usama 1117

The Major Sins Series - Not Fasting Ramadan

Speaker: Abu Usama

Introduction

(يَقُولُ الْإِمَامُ الذَّهَبِيُّ رَحِمَهُ اللهُ تَعَالَى الْكَبِيرَةُ الْعَاشِرَةُ إِفْطَارُ رَمَضَانَ بِلَا عُذْرٍ وَلَا رُخْصَةٍ - Yaqūlu al-ʾimāmu aḏ-Ḏahabiyyu raḥimahu-llāhu taʿālā al-kabīratu al-ʿāshiratu ʾifṭāru ramaḍāna bilā ʿuḏrin wa lā rukhsatin) And Imam Al-Zahabi says that the next Kabira, the major sin number 10, is a person who breaks his fast in Ramadan without a religious excuse or rukhsah, a concession. Allah سبحانه وتعالى and His Rasul صلى الله عليه وسلم have made concessions for people where they don't have to fast in the religion. He said:

(إِنِّي بُعِثْتُ بِالْحَنِيفِيَّةِ السَّمْحَةِ - ʾinnī buʿiṯtu bil-ḥanīfiyyati as-samḥati)

I've been sent with the religion that makes things easy for people.

So the woman who is pregnant, she doesn't have to fast. The person who is of old age, he doesn't have to fast. The one who is traveling or sick, they don't have to fast.

The one who has a job that is extremely difficult, he doesn't have to fast. That's the سمحة of the religion of Al-Islam. But then there are those individuals from this ummah for one reason or another who saw fit to break their fast during the month of Ramadan.

Some people were trying to fast, and they broke their fast because they were newlyweds. Some people were trying to fast, and they broke their fast because the Shaytan overcame them. It is a Kabira from the Kabair, Kabira number 10.

Evidence - First Hadith

He brings a number of proofs. The first one, he said:

(Source Name)

He said that the Prophet said, whoever broke a day of Ramadan without any excuse, or without any religious ruksa or concession, he will never make qada. He will never be able to make qada, make up that one day that he missed, even if he fasted for the rest of his life.

He said that this hadith is not authentic. This hadith has been collected by Imam Bukhari in Sahih Bukhari. But Imam Bukhari put it in his book, Ta'liqah. He didn't connect it to Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم. The chain of narration is not authentic. And he narrated it with the Sighat al-Tamrid. That's when Imam Bukhari puts the hadith in his book and he says, it is said, it is narrated, it has been narrated.

That's an indication for the reader that Al-Bukhari doesn't see that hadith as being authentic. So there are weak hadith in Sahih Bukhari. But the majority of the weak hadith that are in Sahih Bukhari, they are there for a particular reason.

Al-Bukhari is trying to do something with that hadith. He may be trying to display and show that in the chain of narration of this particular hadith that's weak, there has been a connection between two particular narrators for an example. So Imam Al-Bukhari said it was not authentic in his book, Al-Tarikh Al-Kabir.

This hadith is not authentic and it's from the Ahkam. And whether it's from the Aqidah or the Ahkam, or whether it's from the Tarheeb and the Targheeb, whether it's from the Fadhai Al-Amal, what is enough for us is what Allah Azzawajal revealed in his Quran and what the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم brought.

(الْيَوْمَ أَكْمَلْتُ لَكُمْ دِينَكُمْ - al-yawma ʾakmaltu lakum dīnakum)

I have completed for you your religion today. We don't need what is not authentic.

Evidence - Second Hadith

And then Imam Al-Zahabi said:

(Source Name)

The five prayers and the Jummah to the Jummah prayer and the Ramadan to the next Ramadan, they are expiations for the person. It wipes away your sins if you avoid the major sins.

Evidence - Third Hadith

(Source Name)

Sahih Hadith - Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim

Al-Islam has been built upon five pillars: the testimony of لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللهُ مُحَمَّدٌ رَسُولُ اللهِ and establishing the Salat, and giving the Zakat, and fasting in the month of Ramadan, and making Hajj to the Ka'bah.

Evidence - Statement of Abdullah bin Abbas

خَبَرٌ صَحِيحٌ عَبْدُ اللَّهِ بْنِ عَبَّاسٍ

Abdullah bin Abbas said that the institutions, the main institutions of Al-Islam, the Urah of Al-Islam are three: the شَهَادَةُ لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ and establishing the Salat and fasting in the month of Ramadan. Whoever leaves any of those three, he is a disbeliever.

You find that individual having a lot of money but he doesn't make Hajj. You'll find him having ample money but he doesn't make Zakat. And it is not permissible to shed his blood.

Understanding the Pillars of Islam

Concerning these three issues that Al-Imam Al-Zahabi brought, it's clear why he brought them. Al-Islam has been built upon five pillars. One of those pillars is the Siyam of Ramadan. Abdullah bin Abbas said that from the institutions of Al-Islam is the Siyam of Ramadan.

So he is saying رحمه الله تعالى if a person is not fasting all of Ramadan or he is negligent in a day or days from the month of Ramadan, then there is going to be something wrong with his religion because the ركن or the pillar is what the house is built upon. The structure is built upon the أركان

So whatever is built upon it, it is going to be dependent. The strength is going to be dependent upon how strong the foundation is. So if he is not praying and he is not fasting and he doesn't consider going to Hajj, then there is a problem with his Iman and there is a problem with his Islam.

Making Up Missed Fasts

So as we mentioned, there are those people who they missed some days as it relates to fasting in the month of Ramadan intentionally. We are going to come to what you have to do to rectify that issue.

In the Salat, there is no Qada. There is no making up the Salat that you intentionally missed. You intentionally did not get up for any of the Fajr prayers or whatever prayer. There is no Qada which you intentionally missed in the Salat, there is no Dalil to allow you to make it up.

As it relates to the fast of Ramadan, if you have missed days in the month of Ramadan and they are easily calculated, you have to make it up and we will come to that InshaAllah.

The Reality of Fasting

Subhanahu wa ta'ala he brought the next statement of Rasulullah, the authentic hadith that shows the virtues of fasting the correct way. He says Sallallahu alayhi wasallam:

(Source Name)

Sahih al-Bukhari

Whoever does not leave alone lying and the Qawla al-Zuhr (giving false testimony) and acting ignorantly, whoever does not give it up while he is fasting, Allah is not in need of him giving up his food and his drink.

Ikhwani, we need you to pay attention right now, because as we mentioned before, Kitabul Kabair is not just a book of Al-Mu'idah, it is a book of Fiqh and it is a book of Usulul Fiqh and it is a book of Aqidah and it is a book of Al-Hadith, Ilmul Hadith.

So now Imam Al-Dahabi is bringing to us a very important aspect of Al-Fiqh in this Hadith of Rasulullah Sallallahu alayhi wasallam.

The person who was fasting in the month of Ramadan, while he is fasting and he is abstaining from his food and his drink and having relations with those who are Halal for him, but he is watching Bollywood movies, he is listening to music, he is giving false testimony, he is using bad language. If he does not avoid those things which is the reality of fasting, leaving alone what is Haram, if he does not give that up, Allah is not in need of him giving up his food and his drink.

Qiyas Al-Aula (Reasoning by Greater Priority)

So what is Imam Al-Dahabi doing here? He is doing a form of Qiyas that is from the Deen and it is called Qiyas Al-Aula.

Qiyas Al-Aula means as it is given to us in this particular Hadith, if a person is actually fasting but he is not fasting the correct way by partaking and engaging in those affairs that are against fasting, then Allah Azawajal is not in need of his fast because he is not fasting according to the spirit of Al-Islam.

If Allah does not need that and Allah rejects that, then what about the person who does not fast at all? He does not fast at all. From the Bab Al-Aula, then even more so his situation is worse. So they call that the Qiyas Al-Aula.

Allah Ta'ala told us about our parents and we took this a few weeks ago: do not say to your parents أُتِ. So from the Qiyas Al-Aula is if you can't say to them a word, then clearly you can't strike them. Then clearly you can't say a word that is worse than أُ by swearing at them or saying I wish you die.

That is Qiyas Al-Aula and that is what Imam Al-Zahabi has done with this particular Hadith and that is to show it from the Hadith.

Warning Against Missing Ramadan

He brought the last Hadith of Rasulullah in this Bab, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, in which he said:

(Source Name)

May a person be put in the dirt or the mud. The month of Ramadan comes and he is not forgiven. May his nose be dragged in the dirt, may it be made dirty, because he lost out on a golden opportunity.

The Severity of Not Fasting

So when Imam Al-Zahabi brought those Adillah and he ended this particular chapter by saying:

وَالْمُسْلِمُونَ يَشُكُونَ فِي إِسْلَامِهِ وَيَظُنُّونَهُ بِزِنْدِيقٍ لِلْإِجْمَاعِ

He said and what is understood and believed by the Muslims in general is that whoever leaves fasting in the month of Ramadan and he's not sick and he doesn't have an excuse that's religious, that to leave the fast of Ramadan is more severe than the person who makes Zina. And it's more severe than the Makkas or the tax collector who is taking the people's money oppressively.

The oppressive leader has sent him to tax the people and he's taking the people's money oppressively. It's worse than that and it's also worse than the one who is مُدْمِنُ الْخَمْرِ He is an alcoholic, addicted to crack or cocaine or some other kind of narcotic.

The Muslims of the past believed that the one who left the month of Ramadan, all of the month or some of the days of the month of Ramadan, that is greater than the one who committed Zina.

Why? Because Ramadan is a Rukun from the Arkan of Al-Islam and the Salat is a Rukun from the Arkan of Al-Islam.

The Lost Balance

So there we have it again where the موازین,the میزان has been lost with the Muslims. We will marry the individual who doesn't pray the Salat but we won't marry the individual who drinks خمر or the شراب

And both of them are evil. Neither one of them deserves to be married to our women at all. If we heard that the man is drinking خمر or he's doing something where he leaves off one of the Arkan of Al-Islam, the door should be closed.

No thank you. You have the nerve to even ask for my daughter or my sister. No thank you.

As for the one who was not from our tribe, but he's holding on to the Arkan of Al-Islam and we don't know anything but good about that individual. We know no evil about him. This is an individual that we are obligated to marry him to our women, our daughters, and if we don't, it's going to be fitna and fasad in the earth.

The Status of One Who Doesn't Fast

He went on to say that the Muslims doubt the Islam of an individual who doesn't fast and they consider him to be one of a زِنْدِيق. He is a very heretic in his development and in his makeup.

As it relates to breaking the fast of Ramadan, we add on to that the authentic hadith of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم in which he was taken to the Isra'ul Mi'raj.

And the two angels took him on top of a particular mountain and they said, let's go up the mountain and he said, I can't make it up that mountain. They said, we're going to make it easy for you. When he arrived at the top of the mountain, he heard a voice or a number of voices that frightened him.

So he asked, what is that sound? They said, that's the sound of the people of Al-Nah. He said, and then I saw a group of people who were being hung up by their Achilles tendon behind the ankle bone. They were being hung upside down by their Achilles tendons and in their mouths there were hooks.

So I said, it was said: Those are the people who break their fast before the proper time. A person gets tired and it's midday, he says, I can't fast anymore. I'm not going to fast anymore.

Shaitan comes to him and he breaks his fast. That is the one. It's not the one who thought the sun set so he ate 2 minutes, 3 minutes, 5 minutes, 10 minutes early without intending to do that. He thought it was the time. That person is ma'zur. He's talking about the one who intentionally broke his fast.

The Kaffarah (Expiation) for Breaking the Fast

Concerning the breaking of the fast, the person who breaks his fast in the month of Ramadan or outside of the month of Ramadan, but it has the hukum of Ramadan. He was traveling and he missed the day of Ramadan. So he decided today to make up that one day of Ramadan.

And in this day, he broke his fast. Today has the hukum of Ramadan even though it's not Ramadan. What is the recompense? What is the penalty that comes to us in an authentic hadith in Sahih Bukhari and Muslim.

The Hadith of Abu Hurairah

Abu Hurairah radiallahu anhu said:

A man came to Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam and said: Ya Rasulallah, I have been destroyed. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said: And what has destroyed you? He said: I had relationships with my wife in the month of Ramadan.

Rasulallah asked the man sallallahu alayhi wa sallam: Do you have the ability to free a slave? He said: I don't have the ability to free a slave, I'm poor.

Do you have the ability to fast two months consecutively? He said: Ya Rasulallah, I can't fast two months consecutively without breaking it.

He said: Do you have the ability to feed sixty people? He said: I don't have the ability to do that.

So he went to the side and he sat down disturbed with himself and his condition. Someone brought the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam some dates.

Rasulallah said: Hey, take these dates and go give it in sadaqa. The man said: Ya Rasulallah, is there a family who is more poor than I am? My family is the most poorest out of everyone and there is not a family, ahlul bayt, in all of Medina who is more in need of those dates than my family.

Abu Huraira said: The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, upon hearing that, smiled until we saw his teeth show. He found that amusing, he found that funny. He said: Then take it and feed it to your family.

Understanding the Hadith Correctly

So someone hears that hadith and he says this is from the humor of Rasulallah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. La wallahi, that's not from the humor of Rasulallah because it's not a humorous matter to break a fast in the month of Ramadan.

A person looks at that hadith and he says: I'm going to have relations in the month of Ramadan and it's easy because look how Rasulallah did with that particular man.

He told us sallallahu alayhi wa sallam:

مَنْ أَتَى أَهْلَهُ فِي حَيْضَتِهَا فَلْيَتَصَدَّقْ بِنِصْفِ دِينَارٍ

Whoever has relations with his wife while she's on her menses, then let him spend as a kafara half of a dinar.

Everyone here has half of a dinar. But everyone here who has an intellect, when he looks at having relations at that particular time of the month, it's being small. I'm going to do it because all I have to do is give 5 pounds and that's the kafara? No one in his right mind will say such a thing or feel such a way, knowing that our religion is the religion of attahara and the religion of taqwa and the religion of alwara.

Similarly, breaking the day in the month of Ramadan is worse than that. Is worse than drinking khamar. Is worse than making zina. Is worse than coming to the woman at that time of the month. So it's not a humorous issue.

And who knows, ikhwani, maybe that man was from the people who fought the battle of Badr. Maybe that particular man was from the men who didn't miss a single jihad in all of the land. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasalam laughed for a reason that's known by Allah and known by the messenger of Allah.

It shouldn't be understood from the fiqh of this hadith, the humorous nature of Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa ala alihi wasalam.

The Steps of Kaffarah

So if a person breaks his fast in the month of Ramadan, he has to make a kafara:

1. First of all, he has to make up that day. In another narration, a ziyada that is authentic, an addition, the Prophet said to the man sallallahu alayhi wasalam:

صُمْ يَوْمًا ثُمَّ اسْتَغْفِرِ اللَّهَ

Make up that day you missed and make toba to Allah.

2. Free a slave - So if you missed that day, you have to make up that day and after that, if you have the ability to free a slave, you free a slave. One of the ways that Islam came, a practical way of emancipating the slaves. There is slavery in the land and we believe in slavery. It's not practiced today correctly but it will return.

3. If he doesn't have a slave (as no one has slaves today) - He is to fast 2 months consecutively. So if you are a young individual and you got married in the month of Ramadan or other than that and you have the ability to fast the 60 days, then that is something that you have to do, or the 29 days and the 30 days, and that's something you have to do.

And if you break the day for whatever reason, if you break the day without a legitimate excuse, you have to start all over again.

4. If you can't fast those days - And Allah knows best who is qadir and who is not qadir. The person has to feed 60 people representative of the 2 months, 30 days, 30 days.

So if you broke the fast, we either do the second or the third thing. We either fast 2 months consecutively or number 3, we feed 60 people or a family. We feed them until it comes out to 60 people.

This is the kafara in the religion of Al-Islam for the Muslim who breaks the fast.