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[Q-ID0701] Can I purposely become a Traveller to avoid Fasting during Ramadan?

QUESTION:

What do the scholars of the Din and muftis of the Sacred Law state regarding the following issue: Can someone become a traveller as per Sharī’ah in Ramadān just to avoid keeping a Fard fast?

Questioner: Brother from UK

ANSWER:

بسم اللہ الرحمن الرحیم
الجواب بعون الملک الوھاب اللھم ھدایۃ الحق والصواب

The fast of Ramadān is a definitive Fard [obligation], and someone purposely becoming a traveller as per Sharī’ah solely in order to avoid keeping a fast is depriving themselves from great reward. No Muslim can make such an immoral, improper & incorrect intention.

Also, great emphasis has been given in Hadīths for keeping the fasts of Ramadān, up to the extent that even a whole lifetime’s worth of fasts cannot even equate to just one of the fasts of Ramadān. Just as it has been mentioned in Hadīth, here narrated by Sayyidunā Abū Hurayrah that the Noble Prophet ﷺ stated that,

“مَنْ أَفْطَرَ يَوْمًا مِنْ رَمَضَانَ مِنْ غَيْرِ عُذْرٍ وَلَا مَرَضٍ، لَمْ يَقْضِهِ صِيَامُ الدَّهْرِ وَإِنْ صَامَهُ”

“If someone did not keep the fast of Ramadān without a valid reason or illness, then even a lifetime’s worth of fasts cannot make up for it, even if it is kept later on.”

[Sahīh al-Bukhārī, vol 1, pg 638, Hadīth no 1934]

Furthermore, the Holy Prophet ﷺ stated,

أَرْبَعٌ فَرَضَهُنَّ اللهُ فِي الْإِسْلَامِ، فَمَنْ جَاءَ بِثَلَاثٍ، لَمْ يُغْنِينَ عَنْهُ شَيْئًا، حَتَّى يَأْتِيَ بِهِنَّ جَمِيعًا الصَّلَاةُ، وَالزَّكَاةُ، وَصِيَامُ رَمَضَانَ، وَحَجُّ الْبَيْتِ

“Allāh Almighty has made four things Fard [compulsory] in Islām; whoever acts upon [only] three of these will not benefit at all, until such person does not act upon all of them; 1) Salāh 2) Zakāh 3) Fasting 4) Hajj.”

[Musnad Imām Ahmad Ibn Hanbal, vol 29, Hadīth no 17789]

From this, one comes to know that if someone leaves their fast without a valid reason which is accepted by Sharī’ah, then there is a danger of their deeds becoming worthless, and any Muslim at all who is God-fearing, having heard such consequences, would not dare to leave the fast of Ramadān without a valid reason accepted in Sharī’ah.

واللہ تعالی اعلم ورسولہ اعلم صلی اللہ علیہ وآلہ وسلم
کتبہ ابو الحسن محمد قاسم ضیاء قادری

Answered by Mufti Qasim Zia al-Qadiri
Translated by Haider Ali

Read the original Urdu answer here: [Q-ID0701] Can I purposely become a Traveller to avoid Fasting during Ramadan?

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