Niyyat (Inention) of fasting

1627. It is not necessary for a person to pass the Niyyat for fasting through his mind or to say that he would be fasting on the following day. In fact, it is sufficient for him to decide that in obedience to the command of Allah he will not perform from the time of Adhan for Fajr prayers up to Maghrib, any act which may invalidate the fast. And in order to ensure that he has been fasting throughout this time he should begin abstaining earlier than the Adhan for Fajr prayers, and continue to refrain for some time after sunset from acts which invalidate a fast.

1628. In obligatory fixed fasting like fasting in Ramadhan, whenever from the beginning of night until Adhan for Fajr, one makes Niyyat for fasting the next day it is in irder, but if one does not know or forgets that it is the beginning of Ramadhan or another obligatory fixed period, and he/she comes to know that before Zuhr, if he/she has not done anything which invalidates fasting, he/she may make a Niyyat and it is in order. But if he/she has done something which invalidates fasting, or comes to know the above facts after Zuhr, his/her fasting is not valid and at the same time he/she must refrain from doing anything which invalidates fasting until Maghrib, and later he/she must offer its Qadha. The time of recommendatory (Mustahab) fasting is from the beginning of night until such time that there is enough opportunity to make Niyyat before Maghrib, and if he/she has not done anything which invalidates fasting until that time and he/she makes Niyyat for Mustahab fasting, it is in order.

1629. If a person sleeps before Adhan for Fajr prayers without making a Niyyat, and wakes before Zuhr to make a Niyyat of fast, his fast will be in order, whether it is obligatory or Mustahab fasting, but if he wakes up after Zuhr, he/she cannot make Niyyat for obligatory fasting.

1630. If a person intends to keep a fast other than the fast of Ramadhan, he should specify that fast; for example, he should specify it as the Qadha fast or a fast to fulfil a vow. On the other hand, it is not necessary that a person should specify in his Niyyat that he is going to observe a fast of Ramadhan. If a person is not aware or forgets that it is the month of Ramadhan and makes a Niyyat to observe some other fast it will be considered be the fast of Ramadhan.

1631. If a person knows that it is the month of Ramadhan, yet intentionally makes an intention of observing a fast other than the fast of the month of Ramadhan his fast will not be reckoned a fast of the month of Ramadhan nor the fast of which he made the Niyyat.

1632. If a person makes an intention before Adhan for dawn prayers to observe a fast and then becomes unconscious and regains his senses during the day time, he should, on the basis of obligatory precaution, complete the fast on that day, and onserve its Qadha.

1633. If a person makes Niyyat before the Adhan for Fajr prayers to observe a fast and then gets intoxicated and comes to senses during the day he should, on the basis of obligatory precaution, complete the fast of that day and should also give its Qadha, if it is not complete.

1634. If a person makes a Niyyat before the Adhan for Fajr prayers to observe a fast, and then goes to sleep, and wakes up after Maghrib his fast is in order.

1635. If a person observes fast with the Niyyat of the first day of the month and understands later that it was the second or third of the month, his fast is in order.

1636. If a person did not know or forgot that it was the month of Ramadhan, and takes notice of this before Zuhr and if he has performed some act which invalidates a fast or he knows that after Zuhr, his fast is void. But, he should not perform any act till Maghrib which invalidates a fast and should also observe Qadha of that fast after Ramadhan.

1637. If a child reaches the age of puberty before the Adhan for Fajr prayers in the month of Ramadhan he/she should keep fast and if he/she reaches the age of puberty after the Fajr Adhan, the fast day is not obligatory for him/her.

1638. If a person who has been hired to observe the fast of a dead person, observes Mustahab fasts, there is no harm in it. However, if a person has his own Qadha of fasts, he cannot observe Mustahab fasts. And if he has another obligatory fasting, as an obligatory precaution he/she cannot observe Mustahab fasting, and if he forgets this and observes a Mustahab fast and remembers it before Zuhr his Mustahab fast will be void and he can convert his intention to the fast of Qadha, and if he takes notice of the situation after Zuhr his fast is void, and if he remembers this after Maghrib, his fast is valid.

1639. If in the month of Ramadhan, a Kafir becomes Muslim before Zuhr, and at the same time he/she has not done anything which invalidates fast since morning Adhan, as an obligatory precaution, he/she must make the Niyyat of fast and observe fast and if not, he/she must offer its Qadha.

1640. If a patient recovers from his illness in the middle of a day in the month of Ramadhan, before Zuhr, and if he has not done anything to invalidate the fast, he should make Niyyat and fast. But if he recovers after Zuhr, it will not be obligatory on him to fast on that day.

1641. A person can make Niyyat every night of the holy month of Ramadhan that he would be fasting on the following day, and it is better to make Niyyat on the first night of Ramadhan that he would fast throughout that month

1642. If one doubts whether it is the fast day of Sha’ban or the first day of Ramadhan then the fast on that day is not obligatory. If however, somebody wants to observe fast on that day he cannot do so with the intention of observeing the Ramadhan fast, but if he makes an intention to observe the fast with the intention of Qadha fast or some other fast, and if it is known later that it was Ramadhan then it will automatically be Ramadhan fast.

1643. If it is doubtful whether is the last day of Sha’ban or the first of Ramadhan, and a person observes a Qadha or a Mustahab fast or some other fast on that day, and later comes to know the same day that it is Ramadhan, then he should make intention to the Ramadhan fast. Even if he/she knows that after Zuhr and if such a person makes Niyyat for Ramadhan fast, it is void even if it is Ramadhan.

1644. If one who is observing a fixed obligatory fast like Ramadhan fast, decides to change his/her Niyyat, his/her fast is void but if he intends to do something which invalidates fast and he does not do it actually, his/her fast is in order. In Mustahab fasting and unfixed obligatory fast, if he/she makes a Niyyat before Zuhr, his/her fast is in order.