and eat and drink until the white thread of dawn becomes distinct to you from the black thread. Then complete the fast until nightfall.”

He thus permitted sexual relations, from which it was understood that fasting meant abstaining from sexual relations, eating and drinking. When He first said:

“Fasting has been prescribed for you as it was prescribed for those before you,”

they understood that fasting meant refraining from eating, drinking and sexual intercourse. They knew and used the word “fasting” before Islam, as related in the two Sahīh collections from ‘Ā’ishah—may Allah be pleased with her:

“‘Āshūrā’ was a day on which Quraysh used to fast during the pre-Islamic era.”

It is authentically reported through more than one source that, before fasting the month of Ramadan was made obligatory, the Prophet commanded that the day of ‘Āshūrā’ be fasted and sent a caller to proclaim this. Thus, what this term denoted was already known to them.

It is likewise established by the Sunnah and the consensus of the Muslims that menstrual bleeding is incompatible with fasting: a menstruating woman does not fast, but makes up the missed fasts.

It is also established in the Sunnah, through the hadith of Laqīt ibn Sabirah, that the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—said to him:

“And draw water deeply into your nose, unless you are fasting.”

This indicates that water passing down through the nose invalidates the fast. This is the view of the vast majority of scholars.