 Salamu alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh Welcome to Ehqab SOS, the Ramadan Special I hope you're having a very, very blessed and very, very spiritual Ramadan and insha'Allah may Allah accept all of your deeds in this special holy month Joining me today is Sheikh Ali Maash Salamu alaikum sheikhna Salamun alaikum warahmatullahi I hope your fasting is going well and not struggling too much Alhamdulillah, with the grace of Allah SWT Maasha'Allah, Maasha'Allah Sheikhna, let's go into, you know, performing fasting because it's not just, I stop eating and drinking there's a lot more to the fast, isn't there? With regard to fasting, as I've mentioned in the previous episodes that it is a worship and the first thing comes with regard to fasting is the intention, niyah and the intention and the niyah should be to seek nearness to Allah SWT Urbatan ilallah ta'ala That's very important with regard to fasting and the rest of the ibadat and worships that we have to have this intention that I pray before Allah SWT I do the fast, I do the hajj, the tawaf and so forth for the cause of Allah So I have the niyah for the cause of Allah and devotion and ikhlas and noriya, not to show off to the others for example and with regard to the month of Ramadan you do the niyah of course I mean, as I've mentioned Urbatan ilallah ta'ala and you have to make sure that when you fast, it's not for the purpose of going on to diet for example or for those who go hunger strike in prisons for example You do the siyam and fasting for the cause of Allah So what you're saying is that in Ramadan if you are not eating between Fajr and Maghrib for any other reason, apart from this does not substitute you as a fast for Ramadan Well, other types of fasting that do not have this type of intention seeking niyahs to Allah SWT Other than such intention would not be considered fasting be it mustahab fast or wajr fast For example, somebody who goes on a diet or hunger strike or even you hear of friends from eating and drinking from the Adhan al-Mafajr to Adhan al-Maghrib just to keep himself happy without eating without spending for example he wants to save money for example he doesn't want to spend on breakfast and lunch for example Without having the intention of Urbatan ilallah ta'ala would not be considered as fast be it mustahab or wajr be it in the month of Ramadan other than other days of the year you must have this intention for the purpose of Urbatan ilallah ta'ala that is important so the intention must be present at all time from the beginning of the fast from the Fajr time till the end of the Maghrib Adhan that's important I have to preserve and keep this fasting intention all the way down any intention that you make to break the fast during the day that will make the psalm and the fasting void so you have to make sure that you preserve and you keep and retain the intention of fasting all the way till the Maghrib time that's very important because some people think oh well I'm going to plan to eat I'm going to break my fast that intention that you want to break the fast will void the fasting even before you even before you eat exactly you have to make sure that you keep this intention all the way from Fajr to Maghrib wow also Shaykh you were saying that fasting is the type of Ibadah and every Ibadah has the intention we also know that there is a prerequisite of being tahrir is that the same as well with fasting do you have to be tahrir do you have to be in Wudu or anything like this well being tahrir inshallah will come to the conditions of what validates the fasting in more detail inshallah wudu is mustahab at all times you wake up you do the wudu you want to read Quran you do the wudu mustahab you want to go out to study to work you do the wudu but for the month of Ramadan you have to make sure that you are pure from the janaab the hadaf this situation of janaab so you have to make sure that you have the ghusl of janaab before adhan al-subh and adhan al-fajr that's very important and then you can make the intention and you enter the fasting day with the pure body from the janaab inshallah and likewise for the ladies as well likewise with their periods again they have to be tahrir and pure so they start the month of Ramadan or that day specifically in pure and the intention this is wajib in order for the fast to be valid of course as I mentioned one of the main criteria of fasting is that you have the intention that you make this intention of fasting before adhan al-fajr as I mentioned so before you start the day with fasting you have to have the intention before adhan al-fajr and how do you say the intention in your heart in your mind is enough or do you actually add to the words it is not mandatory to utter and say the niyah for example I shall fast today you don't have to say it just to keep in your mind and refrain from eating and drinking on that day that makes the niyah that forms the niyah what is the niyah refrain from eating and drinking from adhan al-fajr to adhan al-maghrib that's it you don't have to sit down and make that intention I'm going to start refraining from eating and drinking from the fajr time and then you repeat it again in your mind or you say you utter it you don't have to just keep things simple and just have the intention or butna layta ala that's simple drinking from these times so what about the time that you make the niyah do you have to make this right at the end after you've eaten for sahur or can you make it before that or does it have to happen right when the adhan starts but when should you recite the or make the intention the intention as I've mentioned it must be before adhan al-fajr time so before the mu'adhan says Allahu Akbar you must have made the intention for the fasting on that day that's very important because fasting is a complete set of ibadah that begins from adhan al-fajr till adhan al-maghrib if you ignore the intention and you say well I'm going to wake up let's say by the sunrise and I'm going to make the intention by the sunrise no fasting void you have to make sure that you did the intention for the fasting before the adhan al-fajr that's very important because it's a complete set it's a complete duty and ibadah that begins from the fajr to the maghrib that's very important it's one set it's one of ibadah duty that you have to accomplish and offer to Allah by the end of the day so you can't ignore part of the day and then you start your intention let's say ten o'clock in the morning no it's too late what if someone wasn't aware that the intention was wajib never mind just the intention what if someone isn't aware of certain things that make the fast invalid so if someone didn't know that or if I do this or that my fast is battered especially the intention everybody else was just doing it I was just going along with it does that make the fast void or not well basically there's no need for the individual for the one who wants to observe fasting to sit down and think and brainstorm all the the facts and the criteria that makes the fasting invalid so he just sits down and thinks about eating drinking such and such he brings all the muftara and the acts that breaks the fast no just in overall just knowingly that I am fasting and to refrain from the muftara in overall that's fine that's enough so just a general that I'm refraining myself from breaking the fast during the daytime and that should be sufficient you don't have to remember and brainstorm everything that they actually break the fast so that's the requirement and is the intention supposed to happen daily can I do one intention for the whole month of Ramadan now there are two types and ways for the knee of fasting for the month of Ramadan number one is to make the intention of fasting for the entire month from the beginning of the month so let's say tomorrow is the first day of Ramadan for example and the night before the first day of Ramadan I do the intention that I will fast the whole month of Ramadan the entire month of Ramadan that should be sufficient that's one of the ways and methods that you make the intention one intention for the whole month so you don't have to repeat the intention every night and to keep it in your mind you made the intention for the whole month you wake up every night you eat the Sahur and you sleep you are refraining yourself from eating and drinking and you had the intention from the beginning to complete the whole month that's the first way the second way is to make the intention in every night I will wake up in the morning exactly for the Sahur you wake up you eat the Sahur, you make the intention for this day, particular day and then you enter the day with the fasting of that day and then the next day the same thing the night before the Sahur you do the niyah again so it's up to you, you can make whatever choice you want and you pick up one of the types of intentions because you know we have a situation sometimes that is tomorrow the first day of Ramadan and let's say that I follow a marja who said tomorrow is the first day of Ramadan so I have my niyah to keep the first day of Ramadan fast on the first day of Ramadan and then later on the office says actually that first was not the first that was the second, we made a mistake in fasting the moon is that fast still valid so I did the first of Ramadan accidentally I fasted that on the second day of Ramadan so do I have to pay back two fasts the first and second or is that one considered to be valid and I can continue and pay back one fast well you see with regard to the intention of fasting the first day or the second day it doesn't matter whatever you make the intention for the days for the numberings for the counting the dates whatever you made the intention that I did the niyah for the second day and it was the first day or vice versa the first day and it was the second day of Ramadan it doesn't matter whatever you make the intention as long as you have the intention of fasting the days of the month of Ramadan it doesn't matter to be the first day or the second or the third that is sufficient and accepted so you don't have to worry about specifying the numberings of the days first, second, 10th, 20th just the intention of fasting the day of the month of Ramadan would be sufficient Thank you very much and thank you to all of you for joining us on this episode Insha'Allah you have the correct intention and the Sahih intention for this Ramadan especially to help your soul purify itself and for you to receive the Taqwa and the Tawfiq Insha'Allah from Allah SWT until the next episode Salam Alaikum Wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barakatuh