Fatawa
Fatawa
“The breastfeeding mother by default is obliged to fast. However, if illness or harm is genuinely feared upon herself or the baby, only then is she exempted from fasting. She will have to do Qadhā’ later.
Genuine reason to omit fasting are ascertained by:
1) Doctor
2) Previous experience
3) Clear and unmistakable signs”
Mufti Faraz Adam (www.darulfiqh.com)
Mufti Faraz graduated from a six-year Alimiyyah (Islamic Studies) programme in the UK, and as a Mufti (jurisconsult) with specialisation in Islamic law and Islamic finance from Durban, South Africa. He holds a Masters Degree in Islamic Finance, Banking and Management from Newman University, UK.
Following further studies in the field of Finance, he recently achieved the ACCA Level 4 Qualification in Accounting and Business. In addition to the above, he has attained various Islamic Finance-industry qualifications such as the IFQ, CIFE, and is a Certified Shariah Advisor and Auditor (CSAA).
“Sisters need to be aware that being pregnant or breastfeeding doesn’t automatically exempt you from the obligation of fasting. Rather you should break your fast only if you find it too difficult to do so, or if you genuinely fear that you or your baby will be harmed due to fasting. In the event that a pregnant or breastfeeding woman is unable to fast, she should make up her missed days when it becomes easier for her to do so after Ramadan.”
Shaykha Umm Jamal Uddin
Shaykha Umm Jamal Uddin attained an ijaazah in Tajweed from her teacher Kareema Czerepinski, the student of Shaykh Ayman Swayd, at Dar al-Huda Quran School in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Upon returning to Australia she completed a BA Languages (major in Arabic) at the University of Western Sydney, and then went on to study both Aqeedah and Fiqh (Mutuun) from scholars based in Saudi Arabia.
She has studied comparative Fiqh based on the explanation of the Hanbali manual of Fiqh (Umdatul-Fiqh), and has a BA Honours in Fiqh and Usul al-Fiqh from Al-Madinah International University. Shaykha completed her memorisation of the Quran after helping three of her five children to complete their memorisation. She is currently a teacher of Islamic Sciences at the Islamic College of Australia. She’s also an active da’iyyah and public speaker at various mosques and events in Sydney.
Fasting as an act of worship is of the greatest benefit to individuals and community. Therefore, out of His compassion for the believers, Allah has made it obligatory during the month of Ramadan. And from the same compassion He has relaxed this obligation for those who, in this month, may be in specified conditions of hardship: for them, it is not obligatory to fast in Ramadan, but it is obligatory for them to fast the same number of days missed in Ramadan at a later time, when those conditions of hardship have passed or eased.
Among the specified conditions are travelling and illness, and for women while pregnant or while nursing infants. Depending on the hardship they face, in these conditions people have a choice to fast or not to fast in the month of Ramadan. For example, for certain kinds of travel, it is preferred that travellers fast if their fasting does not affect their journeying or other necessary activities. But in other cases, it is preferred, or even obligatory, not to fast. For example, those who are ill and whose life or health may be endangered by fasting, or pregnant and nursing women for whom fasting may adversely impact their own and their babies’ health.
Shaykh Akram Nadwi
Dr Shaykh Mohammad Akram Nadwi is a world-renowned Muhaddith, specialised in Ilm ul Rijal (the study of the narrators of Hadith) with ijazaat (licenses) from over 600 scholars, many of them the foremost scholars of our time. After receiving advanced training in the traditional Islamic disciplines at Nadwat al-Ulama (Lucknow, India) and receiving a PhD in Arabic literature from Lucknow University, he became a Research Fellow at the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies.
He has authored and translated over 50 titles on Language, Jurisprudence, Qur’an and Hadith. His life's work is the recently published Al-Muhaddithat: The Women Scholars in Islam, a monumental 53-volume biographical dictionary which charts some of the significant contributions made by female hadith scholars over the centuries.
“In essence, it is obligatory for a pregnant or nursing woman to fast in Ramadan as long as she does not fear harming herself, such as if she fears:
1) Falling ill
2) Worsening an existing illness
3) Delayed recovery from an existing illness
In the above cases it is permissible for her to break her fast.
Similarly it is permissible for her to break her fast if she fears for her child, meaning that, for example she fears that she will miscarry due to malnutrition, or the milk will decrease (obviously something which you have explicitly disproved [for those with a healthy diet]), thereby causing her child to fall ill or increase in illness.”
Shaykha Umm Anas bint Adam