Chapter: The Obligation to Fast Ramadan, the Excellence of Fasting, and Its Related Rulings

Allah the Exalted says, “O you who believe, fasting has been prescribed for you as it was prescribed for those before you…” and He says, “The month of Ramadan in which the Qur’an was sent down as guidance for humanity and clear proofs of guidance and the Criterion. So whoever among you witnesses the month must fast it; and whoever is ill or on a journey—then an equal number of other days.” (Q 2:183, 185)

[Explanation]

The author—may Allah have mercy on him—entitles this section in his work Riyad al-Salihin, “Chapter on the Obligation of Fasting Ramadan, the Virtue of Fasting, and Matters Connected to It.”

He places it immediately after the discussion of zakah because that is the sequence found in the hadith of ʿUmar ibn al-Khattab—may Allah be pleased with him—when Gabriel questioned the Prophet ﷺ about Islam, faith, excellence, the Hour, and its portents.

Fasting Ramadan is to worship Allah by abstaining from food, drink, and marital relations from the break of dawn until sunset. That is the essence of fasting: a person deliberately refrains from these things for the sake of Allah—not out of habit, nor merely for bodily health, but as an act of devotion. Thus he withholds from food, drink, intercourse, and every other nullifier of the fast from true dawn to sundown, beginning with the sighting of the crescent of Ramadan and ending with the sighting of the crescent of Shawwal.