Questions and Answers on Sawm (Fasting) New

 

Question 1 - Is it permitted to swim in the sea or a pond during the day in the month of Ramadhan?
Answer 1 - It is allowed as long as you do not swallow the water.

Question2 - Is it permissible to put on facial creams while fasting?
Answer 2 - It does not affect fasting.

Question 3 - Are you allowed to swallow your saliva even if it was in your mouth?
Answer 3 - It is permissible.

Question 4 - If a person brushes his teeth with toothpaste but accidentally swallows the paste?
Answer 4 - His fast is not void if he was confident with himself during rinsing.

 
Question 5 - If a person rinsed his mouth so that he can wash it but accidentally swallowed water?
Answer 5 - His fast is not void if he was confident with himself during rinsing.

Question 6 - I work in construction and cant work and fast at the same time because of the hot weather, so what do I do?
Answer 6 - It is compulsory to fast, but if your thirst reached a limit where you fear you might harm yourself or collapse and in a difficult situation then drink only what is necessary and hold your fast for the rest of the day, but also make up for this fast after Ramadhan.

Question 7 - Does putting on kohl and perfume break your fast?
Answer 7 - It does not break your fast.

Question 8 - Can the baker drink water during the holy month of Ramadhan?
Answer 8 - If he became thirsty to the extent he feared for himself from harm or collapsing and in a difficult situation it is permissible for him to drink but he must make up for it later on. It is an obligatory precaution to suffice on what is necessary and holding the fast for the rest of the day.

Question 9 - A person was sure that he had performed Ghusl (ritual ablution) and so fasted the month of Ramadhan, but after some time he realised that he hadn't performed Ghusl, so what is the ruling of his fast?
Answer 9 - His fast is correct.

Question 10 - What is the ruling of one who narrates a weak tradition while fasting without relating it to whom or who narrates it?
Answer 10 - His fast does not become void.

Question 11- A person is fasting and forgot that he is fasting, and asked from another person to provide him with water. Is it permissible to provide him with water or the person providing the water should remind him of his fasting?
Answer 11- It is permissible to provide him with water.

Question 12- I am suffering from physical weakness and poor health when fasting during the whole year and am unable to practice my daily work properly while fasting, and I stay in psychological constriction till the end of the month and I don't have the Islamic ruling because I am an engineer and my work involves engineering projects.
Answer 12- It is not permissible to break the fast just for the weakness except if it harms you or causes an illness or unbearable awkwardness. But if working while fasting is the cause to that weakness, then one should change the working hours or reduce them or search for another job etc.

Question 13- Is there a harm on the validity of the fast in applying cosmetics on the body, and also the powder?
Answer 13- there is no harm

Question 14- Am I allowed during the obligatory and recommended fasts to use tooth brush and tooth paste or is it from the things that invalidate the fast.
Answer 14- It is permissible only if nothing descends in the abdomen.

Question 15- Is it permissible for a fasting person to gargle with water and other.
Answer 15- It is permissible for a fasting person to gargle with water with the intention of wudhu (ablution), and for other reasons, only if he/she does not swallow any water deliberately, and he/she must spit out his/her saliva after the gargle three times.

Question 16- Is it permissible to use a Miswak (tooth stick) during the state of fasting?
Answer 16- It is permissible for a fasting person to use a tooth stick, but if the person took out the Miswak (tooth stick) form his/her mouth, he/she must not return it to ones mouth when it contains moisture except if the person spits out whatever is in the mouth from saliva, after returning it to the mouth, or the moisture that's on the Miswak (tooth stick) vanishes in the saliva.

Question 17- Is it permissible to inject a needle and the nutrient during the state of fasting?
Answer 17- Injecting a medicine or other via a needle in a muscle or the jugular vein does not invalidate the fast. Similarly using liquid drops in the ear or the eye does not invalidate the fast even if it caused an appearance of colour or taste in the mouth. Also the fast is not invalidated by using the spray that facilitates the respiratory process if the substance goes in the wind wipe and not the food pipe.

Question 18- An aeroplane pilot is imposed, at the end of his working hours, to drink water in every while, what is the ruling of his fasting?
Answer 18- If the mentioned work during the month of ramadhan is necessary to secure his salary and leaving it will cause awkwardness, then there is no harm in drinking a necessary amount of water and do qadha (fasting the day later in the year) of that day and there is no kaffara (a penance) to be paid by him.

Question 19- If someone was forced to work and was required to drink water, either for necessity like the example of the pilot or due to the extreme heat in the weather. What is he/she to do in the hold month of ramadhan?
Answer 19- If the mentioned work during the month of ramadhan is necessary to secure his salary and leaving it will cause extreme hardship and awkwardness, then there is no harm in drinking a necessary amount of water and do qatha (fasting the day later in the year) of that day and there is no kaffara (a penance) to be paid by him.

Question 20- We are in Boden city in northern Sweden where the night in this place does not exceeds an hour and a half, that is from about 12am to 2am with the visibility of the redness of the sunrise is present, clear and polish and there is no evidence of darkness of the night, so we are in confusion in terms of the timings of the Maghrib, Isha'a and morning prayers. This is in terms of the timings, in terms of the month of Ramadhan, if it begins during these days, what will the fasting procedure be?

Answer 20- If the sunrise redness does not disappear at all, then Maghrib (sunset) is after the whole moon is covered completely and making sure of this is a must. The time for morning prayer is before the sunrise and one must fast the whole of this day with the ability to do so. If one falls in unbearable awkward situation, then breaking the fast is permissible and doing qatha (fasting the day later in the year) after that.

http://sistani.org/local.php?modules=extra&eid=3&aid=67

Reward of one who fasts during The Month of Ramadan

On page 96 of Thawab al-A'mal Wa Iqab al- A'mal , and also on page 48 of his book al-Amali (or page 29-32 of old editions),

Shaykh Abu Ja'far Muhammad ibn Ali ibn al-Husayn ibn Babawayh al-Qummi al-Saduq (306-381 A.H.) quotes Muhammad Ibn Ibrahim al-Ma'athi saying that Ahmed ibn Jaylawayh al-Jurjani al- Muthakkar quotes Abu Ishaq Ibrahim ibn Bilal quoting Abu Muhammad quoting Abu Abdullah Muhammad ibn Kiram quoting Ahmed ibn Abdullah quoting Sufyan ibn 'Ayeenah quoting Mu'awiya ibn Abu Ishaq quoting Sa'eed ibn Jubayr saying,


I asked Ibn Abbas once about the reward of one who fasts during The Month of Ramadan knowing its greatness.

He said,
O' Son of Jubayr! Get ready to listen to what your ears have never heard before, nor your heart has ever experienced, nor has your soul ever reckoned regarding that about which you have inquired! What you are seeking is the knowledge of the first generations and the last!


Therefore, I left him and prepared myself to meet him again. I returned to him at early daybreak. Having said the morning prayers (together), I reminded him of the tradition, which I had sought, so he turned his face to me and said, listen carefully to what I am going to tell you. I have heard The Messenger of Allah (S) saying,
Had you ever come to know about your rewards during The Month of Ramadan, you would surely have thanked The Almighty a great deal more (than you usually do).

When the first night is over, Allah (SWT), The Almighty and The Exalted One, forgives the sins committed by all members of my nation, the ones committed in secrecy and the ones committed in public, and He elevates your status two thousand degrees and builds you fifty towns in Paradise.


On the next day, He rewards you for every step you take during that day with the rewards of one who adored Him for a full year and the reward of one of His Prophets, and He will reward you as though you had performed the fast for a full year.


On the third day, The Exalted and Dear One grants you a Dome in Paradise for each hair on your body, a Dome of a white pearl on top of which are twelve thousand light houses and at the bottom of which are twelve thousand houses in each one of which there are one thousand beds and on each bed of which there is a Heavenly Lady with large lovely eyes, each served by one thousand servants the head-covering of each one of them is better than this world and everything in it.


On the fifth day, He builds you in Paradise a million cities in each one of which there are seventy thousand houses, inside each one of which there are seventy thousand tables, and on each table there are seventy thousand bowls, and in each bowl there are sixty thousand types of food each one of which is different from the other.


On the sixth day, He will grant you in The Abode of Peace a hundred thousand towns in each one of which there are a hundred thousand rooms, in each room there are a hundred thousand beds of gold the length of each is a thousand yards, and on each bed is a Heavenly Lady with large lovely eyes whose hair has thirty thousand locks braided with pearls and sapphires, and each lock is carried by a hundred concubines.


On the seventh day, The Almighty grants you in The Garden of Bliss the rewards of forty thousand martyrs and forty thousand pious men (amongst the truthful).


On the eighth day, Allah Almighty grants you the rewards of the good deeds of sixty thousand worshippers and sixty thousand ascetics.


On the ninth day, Allah, The Exalted One, gives you what is equal to what He gives a thousand scholars and a thousand devotees and a thousand warriors fighting for Allah in a foreign land.


On the tenth day, He gives you the fulfillment of seventy thousand of your worldly wishes and orders the sun, the moon, the stars, the animals, the birds, the beasts, every rock and every rain-drop, everything wet and everything dry, all fish in the oceans and all leaves on the trees, to pray for your forgiveness.


On the eleventh day, The Exalted and Mighty One grants you the rewards whereby He rewards one who performs the pilgrimage and umrah four times and one who performs the pilgrimage with His Prophets and the umrah with every Truthful or Martyr.


On the twelfth day, He takes upon Himself to replace your sins with good deeds, and then He multiplies your good deeds many times and gives you the rewards of each of your good deeds a million times.


On the thirteenth day, Allah (SWT) Almighty grants you what He grants the devotees of Makkah and Madinah and bestows upon you an intercession for each stone and raindrop between Makkah and Madinah.


On the fourteenth day, He treats you as though you had met and followed in the footsteps of Prophet Adam, Nuh, Ibrahim, Musa, Daud and Prophet Suleiman (peace be on all of them), and as though you had worshipped The Almighty Allah (SWT) in the company of His Prophets for two hundred years.


On the fifteenth day, He fulfills ten of your worldly wishes and those of The Hereafter and grants you what He granted Prophet Ayub (AS). Then He orders The Angels who bear The 'Throne' to pray for your forgiveness and grants you on the Day of Resurrection 40 lights: ten on your right, ten on your left, ten before you and ten behind you.


On the sixteenth day, The Almighty grants you sixty outfits to wear as soon as you abandon your grave and a she-camel to ride, and He will send a cloud to overshadow you to protect you from the heat of that Day.


On the seventeenth day, The Almighty Allah (SWT) says, 'I have forgiven them and their parents and exempted them from having to undergo the hardships of The Day of Resurrection.'


On the eighteenth day, The Praised and Exalted One orders Archangel Jibraeel, Mikaeel and Israfeel (Peace be on all of them) as well as The Angels who bear The 'Throne' and all Archangels to seek forgiveness for the nation of Prophet Muhammad (S) till the next year, and He will also grant you on The Day of Resurrection whatever rewards He grants to those who participated in the Battle of Badr.


On the nineteenth day, all Angels in The Heavens and on Earth will have already sought permission of their Lord to visit your graves and to bring you every day a present and a drink (as long as you remain in the Barzakh).


Therefore, if you complete your fast for twenty full days, Te Almighty Allah (SWT) sends you seventy thousand angels to protect you from every accursed devil. He will have granted you for each day of your fast your rewards as though you fasted a hundred years. He will set a ditch between you and Hell and grant you the rewards of all those who recited The Torah, The Gospel, The Psalms and The Holy Qur'an, and will write for you for each feather on Jibraeel the reward of a full year and will grant you the rewards of those who glorify Him at The 'Throne' and 'Chair' and will marry you to a thousand nymphs for each of the verses of The Qur'an.
On the twenty-first day, The Almighty expands your grave a thousand parasangs and lifts the darkness and loneliness of your graves and makes your graves look like the graves of the martyrs and your faces like the face of Prophet Yusuf (AS) son of Prophet Ya'qub (AS).


On the twenty-second day, The Almighty dispatches The Angel of Death as He dispatches him to His Prophets to remove your worldly worries and the torment of The Hereafter.


On the twenty-third day, you will pass on The Straight Path in the company of The Prophets, the first to follow The Prophets, and the martyrs, as if you had fed each orphan and clothed everyone who needed to be clothed.


On the twenty-fourth day, you will not leave this life before each one of you sees the place reserved for him or her in Paradise and is given the rewards of a thousand sick and a thousand who go back to their creed and will grant you the rewards of one who freed a thousand captives from the descendants of Prophet Ismael (AS).


On the twenty-fifth day, Allah (SWT) will have built you under His 'Throne' a thousand green domes on top of each one of which is a tent of light. The Almighty and Exalted One will then say,


'O' Followers of Muhammad! I am your Lord and you are My servants! Enjoy the shade of My Throne in these domes, eat, and drink with enjoyment, for there will be no fear on you, nor will you grieve. O' Nation of Muhammad! By My Dignity and Greatness! I shall dispatch you to Paradise in a way, which will amaze the first generations and the last. I shall crown each one of you with a thousand light crowns. I shall provide for each one of you a she camel whose reins are made of light, and in it are a thousand gold rings, in each is an Angel looking after it, in the hand of each Angel is a light rod so that he may enter Paradise without a reckoning.'


In addition, on the twenty-sixth day, Allah (SWT) will look at you with compassion and will forgive all your sins except those of shedding innocent blood or robbing people's wealth, and He will grant you every day a thousand barriers against backbiting, lying and slandering.


On the twenty-seventh day, He will consider you as though you had aided every believing man and woman and clothed seventy thousand naked persons and equipped a thousand soldiers to camp in a foreign land to defend Islam, and as if you have recited every book, Allah (SWT) has revealed to His prophets.
On the twenty-eighth day, Allah (SWT) will have built you in Paradise a hundred thousand light cities and granted you in the garden of bliss a hundred thousand silver mansions and a hundred thousand cities in each one of which there are a thousand rooms, and granted you in the garden of greatness a hundred thousand pulpits of musk inside each one of which there is a thousand saffron houses in each one of which there are a thousand beds of pearls and sapphires and on each bed a wife of the Heavenly Ladies with large lovely eyes.


So if you complete your fast till the twenty-ninth day, The Almighty Allah (SWT) will grant you a million quarters, inside each quarter is a white dome underneath which is a white camphor bed on which there are a thousand mattresses of green silk on each one of which there is a Heavenly Lady decorated with seventy thousand ornaments and crowned with eighty thousand locks each one of which is decorated with diamonds and sapphires.


So if you finish thirty complete days of fast, The Almighty will have granted you for each day the rewards of a thousand martyrs and a thousand foremost believers in His Prophets, and He will have assigned for you the rewards of fifty years of adoration, and He will have decreed a clearance for you from Hell and a passage on The Straight Path and a security against the torment. One of The Gates of Paradise is al-Rayyan, and it shall never be opened before The Day of Resurrection. It will be opened for those among the nation of Prophet Muhammad (S) who performed the fast. Ridhwan, custodian of Paradise, will call out saying:


'O Followers of Muhammad! Come to The al-Rayyan Gate!'
Therefore, he will let my nation enter Paradise through that gate. Therefore, if one is not forgiven during The Month of Ramadan, in which month can he be forgiven? There is neither will nor strength except from Allah (SWT); Allah (SWT) suffices us, and what a great Helper He is!
This lengthy tradition is also recorded on pp. 183-185, Vol. 8, of Bihar al-Anwar .