he does something more serious than merely insulting him, by fighting him—that is, by grappling with him—it is recommended for him to say, “I am fasting,” due to the Prophet’s saying, peace and blessings be upon him: “If a man insults him or fights him, let him say, ‘I am a man who is fasting.’”

Should he say it quietly or aloud?

Some scholars said that he should say it quietly, while others said that he should say it aloud. Some scholars distinguished between obligatory and voluntary fasting, saying: In an obligatory fast, he should say it aloud, since this is less liable to ostentation; whereas in a voluntary fast, he should say it quietly, for fear of ostentation.

The correct view is that he should say it aloud, whether his fast is voluntary or obligatory, because this serves two purposes:

The first benefit is to make clear that the one being insulted refrained from responding to the insulter only because he is fasting, not because he is unable to respond. For if he left him unanswered because he was incapable of responding, the other person would look down on him, and this would be a humiliation for him. But when he says, “I am fasting,” it is as though he were saying: I am not incapable of responding to you, and I could point out more of your faults than you have pointed out of mine; but I am a man who is fasting.

The second benefit is to remind this man that one who is fasting does not insult anyone. Perhaps this insulter is also fasting, as may be the case in Ramadan when both of them are resident, so that his statement itself includes forbidding him from insulting others and reproaching him for it.

A person should keep the matter of ostentation away from himself in acts of worship, for once the question of ostentation is opened up to a person, Satan will toy with him.