QUESTION:
Salaamu Alaikum Ya Sheikh, I live and work Port Harcourt as an oil worker. On the 29th of Sha‘baan (Yesterday), I went offshore with the intention that the following day (Wednesday) was the day of doubt, It might be Ramadan or not, and we lost communication until day break the next day, after Fajr prayer. I later found out that the new moon of Ramadan was sighted Wednesday night, and I am confused. Should I fast and if I fasted today (Wednesday), do I have to make it up?
Bashir H Magaji, Port Harcourt.
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ANSWER:
Amin Alaikum Salaam Wa Rahamatullah
Praise be to Allah, and blessings and peace be upon the Messenger of Allah, Prophet Muhammad (SAW):
If news of the sighting of the new moon reached you after Fajr, and you had not intended to fast from the night before, then you must stop eating and drinking for the rest of the day, but you have to make up for that day according to the majority of scholars.
Ibn Qudaamah (may Allah have mercy on him) said: If someone woke up not fasting, believing that it was still Sha‘baan, then proof was established that the moon had been sighted, he has to stop eating and drinking, but he must make up that day, according to the view of most of the fuqaha’.
But if you went to sleep with the intention “If tomorrow is Ramadan, then I will fast,” meaning that if it was proven that Ramadan had begun, then your fast is valid and you are not required to make it up, according to the more correct scholarly view. This is the view of the Hanafis, and is mentioned in one report from Ahmad.
And Allah knows best.
