#824: Ruling on the Fast of the One who meets his wife during a Voluntary Fast
824 QUESTION:
“Salaamun alaikum waramatullah wabarakatuhu, please if a person with voluntary fasting mistakenly meet with his wife, What is the validity of his Fasting, And if he does that intentionally, is there any punishment. Jazakumullahu khairan.”
ANSWER:
Wa Alaykum Salām Warahmatullāh Wabarakātuh.
Alhamdulillāh
Mistakenly is not clear. It is either he got carried away in which case it is not termed a mistake as mistake in the Sharī’ah is when a Person aims at something and then falls into something else and it is called Intifā’u Al-Qasd.
For this reason, Ibn Hajar Al-Asqalānī Rahimahullāh mentioned in the Fat’h:
“The Mukhti’ is the one who aims what was right and then falls by error into other than it. And it should be differentiated from the Khāti’i by saying the Khāti’i is the one who intentionally does that which is wrong…”
This is important to State for many errors have creeped into the judgements of people by the error in this definition. And this is why Takfīr is not done on the Mukhti’ while it is done on the Khāti’i. This was emphasized by Ibn Rajab in Jami Al-‘Ulūmi Wa Al-Hikam.
Then, there is no way a man will by mistake that is not intentional meet with his wife. It is either he is carried away or he forgets he was observing the fast.
Generally, a person observing the voluntary fast may choose to terminate his fast by his own volition and there is no blame on him. This is because of the Sahīh Hadith that was recorded by Imām Ahmad from Umm Hāni’ that the Rasūl -salallāhu alayhi wasallam – said:
الصائم المتطوع أمير نفسه، إن شاء صام وإن شاء أفطر
“The Voluntary Fasting person has the authority over himself. If he pleases, he observes the fast (to completion) and if he pleases, he breaks.”
For this reason, the stronger position, and that which is upheld by both the Shāfi’iyyah and the Hanbaliyyah Schools is that there is no harm on such a person whereas the Mālikī and Hanafī Schools hold that it is obligatory upon anyone who has began a voluntary deed to complete it. This position of theirs goes back to the Fiq’hī discourse about whether good deeds that have been started must be driven to a completion depending on the verse:
وأتموا الحج والعمرة لله
“And complete the Hajj and the Umrah to Allāh”
And Mālik induced from that the obligation of completing any good deed that one has started. This is a matter differed upon by the Ulamā.
What is stronger, and Allāh knows best is the earlier position.
As for compensating for it then it is better by consensus and near obligatory in accordance with the position of Mālik and Abū Hanīfah.
Bārakallāhu Fīkum
Jazakumullāhu Khayran.
26th Dhū Al-Qa’adah, 1440AH.
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