SIYAM - FASTING al-Imam Muhyiddin al-Imam
Abu Zakariya an-Nawawi
From Minhaj al-Talibin, by al-Imam
Muhyiddin Yahya ibn Sharaf ad-Din an-Nawawi (d
676H/1277 AC), considered one of the foremost
scholars of Shafi‘i fiqh. Imam an-Nawawi
was born in 1233 AD in the village of Nawa, south
of Damascus. He is considered the reviver (mujaddid)
of his century, having acheived an outstanding
reputation as a jurist, muhaddith (scholar
of hadith) and zahid Sufi. Among his works
are Sharh Sahih Muslim - a commentary on
the Book of authentic hadith of Imam Muslim, and Riyad
as-Saliheen, a compilation of authentic
hadith.Obligation to Fast
The fast of Ramadan becomes
obligatory when thirty days of the preceding
month, Sha‘ban, are past or with the seeing of
the new moon of Ramadan. This seeing is
established with the testimony of one trustworthy
witnesses or as some [‘ulama] say, two.
If one witness is accepted, it is a condition
that he must have the quality of veracity... If
we should fast because of such testimony and did
not see the moon [of Shawwal] after thirty days,
we might still end the fast even if the sky was
cloudy...
Thus if the fast is not yet
obligatory in one area and a traveler comes to a
locality where the moon has been seen [i.e. they
have begun fasting], the most proper thing is for
him to conform with the inhabitants in fasting.
One who travels to an area where the new moon of
the Eid has been seen should feast with its
people, and afterwards make up the day of fast he
has thus lost.
Intention is a condition of the
fast; the intention should be formulated each
night... The full formulation in Ramadan is
"[I intend] to fast tomorrow to observe my
duty towards Allah of fasting Ramadan this
year."
Conditions of the Fast
To fast, one must rigorously
avoid sexual intercourse, vomiting... or
introducing any substance to the "interior
of the body." ... all can break the fast
with the introduction of a substance by snuffing
or eating or injection, or through incision in
the belly or the head or the like. According to
the soundest opinion, putting drops in the nose
or the urethra breaks the fast...there is no harm
in oil’s entering the pores by absorption, or
when kohl (antimony) is used, and its
taste is afterwards perceived in the throat. The
introduction must be intended so that if
[something] entered by accident, the fast would
not be broken...
But the fast is broken if
saliva leaves the mouth and one then brings it
back into the mouth...If one swallows the saliva
in his mouth he does not break the fast, but if
he swallows the water from the mouth or nose
remaining after the ablution, if it is in any
quantity, he does. If food remaining between the
teeth is dislodged by saliva, it does not break
the fast...
If one eats something truly
forgetting (that he is fasting) he has not broken
the fast, unless he repeat this, according to the
best opinions. I too say that he has not broken
the fast, and Allah is Most-Knowing.
Sexual intercourse is like
eating, according to our school (if committed
during the time of fast and one has truly
forgotten that he is fasting, it does not break
the fast). But any [intentional] seminal emission
(otherwise) breaks the fast...
A traveler or sick person who
has legally broken the fast, must fast the number
of days he has missed when he is able. This is
true also for menstruating women, for those who
broke the fast without a valid excuse, for those
who did not formulate the intention before
fasting, for one who was unconscious the entire
day...
A pregnant or nursing woman
must fast for lost days when she is able, but if
she did not fast for reasons of her own health,
she need not pay expiation; while if she broke
the fast fearing for the child, she does pay
expiation (fidya) as well. The expiation
is a day’s food given to the poor and needy, of
the same sort given in alms at the Eid of
Fast-Breaking...
One owes an atonement (kaffara)
for breaking the fast of Ramadan due to sexual
intercourse... The atonement... he must fast
sixty days, or if he cannot do that, give sixty
days’ provisions to the poor. If he is unable
to do all this, the obligation remains, and he
must still do it if ever he is able... It is not
possible for a poor person to pay his atonement
to his own family.
Peace and Blessings on the
Best of Creation Sayiddina Muhammad (s)
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Imam Nawawi (d. 676)
One of the great Sufi scholars, strictest
latter-time hadith masters, and most meticulous
of jurists, Shaykh al-Islam Imam Muhyiddin Yahya
ibn Sharaf al-Nawawi is with al-Rafi`i the
principal reference of the late Shafi`i school.
His books remain authoritative in the methodology
of the law, in Qur'an commentary, and in hadith.
His commentary of Sahih Muslim is second only to
Ibn Hajar's commentary of Sahih Bukhari. Allah
gave his famous compilation of Forty Hadiths more
circulation and fame than possibly any other book
of hadith, large or small, and has allowed Nawawi
to be of immense benefit to the Community of
Islam.
Nawawi was considered a Sufi and a saint, as is
evident from the titles of some of his works and
that of Sakhawi's biography entitled Tarjamat
shaykh al-islam, qutb al-awliya' al-kiram, faqih
al-anam, muhyi al-sunna wa mumit al-bid`a Abi
Zakariyya Muhyi al-Din al-Nawawi (The biography
of the Shaykh of Islam, the Pole of Noble Saints,
the Jurist of Mankind, the Reviver of the Sunna
and the Slayer of Innovation... al-Nawawi). 
The believer has two pleasures, once when he
breaks his fast and second when he meets his
Lord.
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