the position of Abū Hanīfah and others, and the position explicitly stated by Ahmad. It is also the position of many—or most—of the Companions and Successors.

This is comparable to abstaining from food and drink when an obstruction prevents dawn from being seen: one may abstain if one wishes, or continue eating until certain that dawn has broken. Likewise, someone who doubts whether his ablution has been invalidated may either renew it or refrain from doing so.

The same applies to someone who doubts whether the zakat year has elapsed, or whether the zakat he owes is one hundred or one hundred and twenty, and pays the additional amount. All the foundational principles of Islamic law establish that taking precautions is neither obligatory nor forbidden.

If he fasts that day with a general intention to fast, or with a conditional intention—“If this day is in Ramadan, this fast is for Ramadan; otherwise, it is not”—then this suffices according to Abū Hanīfah and Ahmad, in the sounder of the two reports from the latter. This is the report transmitted by al-Marwadhī and others, and the view chosen by al-Khiraqī in his commentary on al-Mukhtasar, as well as by Abū al-Barakāt and others.

The second view is that it does not suffice unless he intends to fast it as a day of Ramadan. This is one of the two reports from Ahmad, adopted by al-Qādī and a group of Ahmad’s followers.

The underlying question is whether one must specifically intend the fast to be for the month of Ramadan. There are three views on this within Ahmad’s school.