1. Mondays and Thursdays - just for the record with naafilah fasts, even if you break it intentionally, you are not obliged to make it up, which is different from the fard fasts

2. Ninth and tenth of Muharram

3. The six days of Shawwal - the month following ramadhan

4. Any day of Shaban, Rajab or Zhul Hijjah - you want to avoid the three days of Eid ul Adha and Eid ul Fitr

5. The middle of every month i.e. 13,14,15,

6. The fasting of Dawood (as) - fasting on every other day

The Prohibited Fasts

1. For a woman to fast when she is in her menses

2. For a woman to fast in the state of nifaas (afterbirth)

3. Three days after Eid ul Adha (10th, 11th, 12th of Zhul Hijjah)

The Disliked Fasts

1. The naafilah fast of the woman without the husbands permission

2. To fast just in case the moon has been sighted

3. Fasting from talking about munkar e.g. some people do not want to command good or forbid evil

The Permits not to Fast

1. The breast-feeding woman

2. The pregnant woman

3. The traveller

4. The elderly/ill

Conditions for the Fasting Person

1. He must be Muslim

2. He must be sane

3. He must be mature

4. He must have capability e.g. not diabetic (requiring injections)

The Niyyah

Every action is according to the niyyah, the dispute is whether to make niyyah for every day of ramadhan or to make it once.

Imam Abu Hanifah (rh) and Imam Shaybani (rh) said, "It is enough for you to have niyyah at the beginning of ramadhan."

Imam Shafi said, "We do not fast the nights of ramadhan therefore you need to have niyyah for every day of ramadhan." This is the stronger opinion and what we adopt.

The niyyah does not need to be pronounced, it is an action of the heart.

If you do not make the niyyah then you will need to make up the day.

Suhoor

Eating something before fajr, at the time of sehir or suhoor is recommended.

To eat something at the time of iftari before isha is obliged - this is the difference between the fast of the Muslims and the fast of the Jews and Christians. There is barakah in the suhoor.

Muhammad (saw) said, "My Ummah will be in goodness as long as they delay the suhoor and open the fasts quickly (iftari)."

Regarding the end period of suhoor many people make confusion between the true dawn, (suub as-saadiq) and the false dawn (suub al-kathib).

Subb as-saadiq: when you look at the horizon there will be a uniform white line above the horizon which will shed light on the village a little bit.

Subb al-kathib: it is the vertical line (lighter on the middle than on the sides) that you will see just as the sun is coming up.

Many people stop eating at the false dawn and this is against the sunnah.

The best thing to do when you eat is to eat the good date, Muhammad (saw) would eat the fresh date and if it was not available then the old date and if that was not available then water. So if at the time of sehri you have nothing but water that is good enough.

Note: if the time for fajr enters and you are drinking water you can carry on until you finish - this is an exception for drinking only

If you start late for fasting e.g. you eat thinking ramadhan has not entered when it has, the hukm is for you to start fasting as soon as you discover it.

What to do if you wake up in Junub (hadath al akbar)

If someone wakes up in junub (hadath al akbar) there are two narrations that differ, one from Aisha (ra) and another from Abu Hurayrah (ra): the stronger opinion is from Aisha (ra) which states that you need to make ghusl, continue to fast and you do not need to make up the day.

Note: the ayah [2:183] is a madinah verse

Muhammad (saw) said, "Whoever fasts in jihad, Allah (swt) will make the distance between him and hell 70 years."

The Difference between Fiddiyah and Kafarah

An example of kafarah: It is recorded in Bukhari, Abu Dawood, Muslim, Tirmizhi, Ibn Majah, a man came to Muhammad (saw) and said, "I am destroyed" and he asked, "What did you do?" the man replied, "I had relationship with my wife in ramadhan." Muhammad (saw) then said, "Are you able to free a slave as kafarah?" And he said, "No" he (saw) then said, "Are you able to fast two consecutive months?" And the man said, "No." And Muhammad (saw) asked, "Are you able to feed 60 miskin?" And he said, "No." The prophet then got a large basket of dates and told him to distribute it to the people and he replied, "There is no one poorer than me." The prophet then smiled and said, "Feed it to your family."

The fiddiyah is specifically to feed one poor person for every day missed of ramadhan, it can specifically be elected by either the old person, the ill person, the woman who is continually breast feeding or pregnant, the traveller - they have the permit. But if they do not want to take the permit they do not have to. The pregnant woman however will not usually be pregnant for more than one year, she can choose, therefore, to make up the fast later on, rather than to pay the fiddiyah, instead. However, the ill person who looks like he will not make recovery or the one who is old, they may not be able to make up the fasts later on and hence, can elect to pay the fiddiyah, instead. Allah (swt) says in [2:184], "It is better if you fast if you but knew."

If the individual who was ill, or breast-feeding could not make up the fast before the next ramadhan he will not be liable to pay the fiddiyah.

If however, the person was capable of making up the fasts before the following ramadhan, and he did not, he will have to pay the fiddiyah as well as make up the fast.

The fiddiyah is to feed one person 625 grams of wheat per day i.e. until the person is satisfied - that is the hukm.

What to do if you have missed a large number of fasts

Imam Abu Hanifah said, "Make up the last year and feed one person for each day missed of the rest of the fasts."

Imam Shafi said, "Make them all up."

Sheikh Omar Bakri Muhammad says the fasts can be made up by the person's children if he passes away; this also applies to the nathr.

The same ruling does not apply to the fasts as to the prayer. If someone never prayed he was not Muslim before, therefore there is no need for him to make up the fasts. If he however, prayed on and off then he will need to make up the fasts that he missed. For the latter, you should make up as many of the fasts as you can and when you make the hajj inshaa'allah it will be kafarah for it.

Regarding Iftar

It has been narrated that Muhammad (saw) once prayed with the sahabah the tarawih and the next day people began to talk about it and he repeated it the next day and the third day he repeated it. On the fourth he did not come out and prayed fajr. They asked him why and he said that he was afraid that people would make it fard.

At the time of Umar (ra) people say he prayed 20, others say 8 the strongest opinion is 8 and the 3 witr. Sheikh Omar Bakri Muhammad says that that the prayers that were done after were qiyaam ul layl. There is ijmah for the 20 rakat but there is dispute about what they prayed.

The prophet never prayed all the tarawih in the masjid he prayed some of them at home.

Laylat ul Qadr

Allah (swt) says, [EMQ 97:1] "The Qur'an was revealed on the night of qadr...."

The big dispute is when the night is.

Muhammad (saw) said, "Whoever stands sincerely for the night of qadr Allah (swt) will forgive all his sins." That is big opportunity!

The Jews used to claim and boast that they used to worship hundreds of days and Allah (swt) revealed that there was one day better than a 1000 months.

These last days have been described as saving from the hellfire.

It is recorded in Tirmizhi, Tabarani, Ahmed (Ibn Abbas was very young) that Umar (ra) said to Ibn Abbas, "The prophet made dua that you would be good for ta'weel - when is layl atul qadr?" And he replied, "Allah (swt) created seven heavens, seven earths, seven days, seven, tawaaf...the chapter of qadr has thirty words and the 27^th is here and therefore that is the one that gives us indication." And Umar (ra) found this very strange.

Ibn Abbas (ra) has his own ajeeb reason for saying it is the 27^th night, he is sahabi akbar.

It is recorded in Tirmizhi, that Muhammad (saw) was making i'tikaaf and said, "Look for it on the 21^st night of ramadhan my head is wet and I am making sujud." In another narration he said the 23^rd night and in a third narration the sahabah said they saw it on the 27^th.

One of the signs is that when you make sujud it will feel damp.

Abdullah Ibn Umar (ra) said Jibreel told Muhammad (saw) to look for it in the last 10 days.

It is recorded in Muslim #1167, Abu Saeed al khidri narrated that the prophet was making i'tikaaf looking for the night of qadr in the first 10 days of ramadhan and then Jibreel came to him and said, "What you are looking for is not in the first 10 nights." So he (saw) continued for the next ten nights and Jibreel again informed him that it was not on those ten nights. Then he (saw) did the same for the next 10 nights an it is then when he said he saw it on the 21^st night.

Abu Saeed al Khidri also narrated a hadith about the 23^rd night and that the prophet mentioned it.

We also have a statement Ibn Abbas saying it could be in the 25^th or 29^th night.

It is recorded in Bukhari, that Aisha (ra) narrated Muhammad (saw) said, "Look for the night of power in the odd nights of the last ten days of ramadhan."

We have so many narrations about it! The combination of all the evidence's tell us that it will be on the odd nights of the last 10 days of ramadhan.

However, Ibn Taymiyyah said, "It is not a forgone conclusion that the ramadhan will be 30 days because it could be 29 days." And therefore the odd could become even and the even could become odd!

Therefore, to look for it on all the nights of the ramadhan is the best option.

Signs of Laylatul Qadr

Virtues of Laylat ul Qadr

1. It is better than a thousand months

2. It is forgiveness for all sins

3. It saves you from the hell-fire

4. You will come out of it as if you are a new born (baby)

I'tikaaf

Definition of I'tikaaf:

"To stay in the masjid for a specific intention and specific time."

The minimum is one day and one night, some say it can be at someone's home, but the strongest opinion is that you can only do qiyam ul layl there, but there is no evidence for the i'tikaaf - this is what Sheikh Omar Bakri Muhammad adopts.

Pillars of I'tikaaf

1. Niyyah - it must be for worshipping Allah (swt), not because your uncle is doing it and you want to marry one of his daughters!

2. In the Masjid

3. Time - it must be at least from maghrib until maghrib, you can pray the isha and then go home - that is the kamal of it

Conditions of I'tikaaf

1. You must be fasting - Ibn Umar said, "You must be fasting when doing i'tikaaf."

2. You must be Muslim

3. You must be mature - it is not acceptable for a person to do it below the age of puberty

4. Taharah - to be in a state of ritual purity away from the big ritual impurity, you cannot be in hadath al akbar

5. It is must be in a masjid which has been defined as a masjid - some ulema believe that it is only valid for the haram, masjid nabawi, and masjid al aqsa. However, Sheikh Omar Bakri Muhammad believes it can be a mosque which is jaami' (they have 5 prayers and do the jumu'ah there).

Adab ul I'tikaaf

You should not be busy with any dunya matter (you must be busy in ibadah).

Forms of ibadah: making tasbih, takbeer, reciting the Qur'an, zhikr, commanding good and forbidding evil, da'wah - what is not acceptable is to go with last years accounts and sort them out or to sell things!

It is recorded in Bukhari, Muslim, that Safiyyah came to visit Muhammad (saw) and spoke to him for a short time and then left and the prophet came with her until he reached the door of the masjid and there was Umm Salamah's house and two ansari's passed by and said, "Assalamu'alaikum." And he (saw) replied and said, "She is my wife." And then they said, "Subhanallah! We do not doubt you." And he replied, "Shaytan will come like in the blood of the person. Allah (swt) blesses the man who prevented the people from backbiting him."

That is called shubhat ul haram, meaning when someone could doubt you and your deen, it is prohibited to be in a position like that. Like fore example, a woman is in a taxi, not marked as a taxi, she is in the back he is in the front and the people know that they are not husband and wife - this is haram.

Muhammad (saw) said, "Whoever makes i'tikaaf should not have any sexual relationship or speak fahisha nor swear and he should pray juma'ah and the janazah and he should not go out or do any dunya matter or trade."

If you enter a masjid and make i'tikaaf it is prohibited to leave unless you have an emergency.

Imam Shafi said, "The best ibadah after salah, jihad, and dawah is i'tikaaf in the last 10 days of ramadhan."

It has been narrated that Ibn Abbas (ra) sent a request to Thabit to help the people but he said he was making I'tikaaf and refused and Ibn Abbas (ra) said to tell him that Muhammad (saw) said, "To look after the affairs of one person is more rewardable than 10 years of I'tikaaf in my Masjid."