Tuesday 24 June 2014

Swimming when fasting? (1)

After a long break, as the month of Ramadan is approaching, I thought I would tackle a few pertinent issues about fasting that people often ask.

This set of blogs will be a detailed analysis of Ayatullah Khui's view on whether immersing one's head in water breaks the fast.

Before we start - the views of other major scholars:



For Ayatullah Khui's view, we refer to his main work (al-Mustanad fi sharh al-urwat al-wuthqa, vol. 11, p160 e.g.http://www.alkhoei.net/arabic/pages/book.php?bcc=718&itg=36&bi=70&s=ct) - I will go through his main argument, which has the following approach: sets out the differences of opinion and the major scholars of the past who had these opinions; then lays out the different groups of narrations (which imply different rulings) with an attempt to reconcile these different groups at the end.
  
In this blog, I will focus on the differences of opinion that Ayatullah Khui discusses:
  • Majority consider it breaks the fast (some claimed there was consensus but there cannot be given the below group, for example did not agree) – Ayatullah Khui
  • A group (including Allama Hilli, Shahid al-Thani and Muhaqqiq al-Hilli in Shara`i al-Islam, and the author of al-Madarik (al-Syed Muhammad al-Amili)) say that it is haram when you are fasting (so is a sin) but does not break the fast and therefore does not require you to do qada ((1) الاستبصار 2 : 85 ، المختلف 3 : 270 ، المسالك 2 : 16 ، الشرائع 2 : 15 ، المدارك 6 : 48 .) – Ayatullah Fadlallah (he uses the term it should be avoided as a precaution)
  • Some say that it is makruh (i.e. not sinful) e.g. Sayyid Murtada and ibn Idris ((2) جمل العلم والعمل (رسائل الشريف المرتضى 3) : 54 ، السرائر 1 : 386 ـ 387 .) – Ayatullah Seestani


In the next blog, I will look at some of the narrations used to justify these positions.

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3 comments:

  1. Miqdaad26 June 2014 at 14:33

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  2. Miqdaad26 June 2014 at 14:37

    Salaam

    One brother emailed me and noted that on one site ( http://www.sistani.org/english/book/48/2263/), it says that Ayatullah Seestani believes that immersing your head in water invalidates the fast:

    "1581. There are nine acts which invalidate fast:...Immersing one's complete head in water"

    Unfortunately, this is an example of a poor summary of Ayatullah Seestani's rulings on an official site!! The more detailed versions show that Ayatullah Sistani believes that immersing your head in water is strongly disliked (Makruh) and does NOT invalidate the fast:

    1. In English, see: "Issue 1618: * If a fasting person intentionally immerses his entire head in the water, his fast is known to be void, even if the rest of his body remains out of water. But this act does not invalidate the fast; it is a Makrooh act, and as a measure of precaution, should be avoided."http://www.al-islam.org/islamic-laws-ayatullah-al-uzma-sayyid-ali-al-husaini-seestani/fasting-part-i-ii#vi-immersing-ones-head-water

    2. In the three volume version of Sistani's, it says "it is very strongly disliked" - " ( الرابع من المفطّرات : ــ على المشهور بين الفقهاء (رضوان الله عليهم) ــ تعمّد الارتماس في الماء ) ولكن المختار أنه لا يضرّ بصحّة الصوم ، بل هو مكروه كراهة شديدة ، ولا فرق في ذلك بين رمس تمام البدن ورمس الرأس فقط ، ولا بأس بوقوف الصائم تحت المطر ونحوه وإن أحاط الماء بتمام بدنه."http://www.sistani.org/arabic/book/13/601/ (ruling 500)

    Thanks

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  3. Miqdaad3 July 2014 at 19:04

    A key question that has been raised by several - is how can Ayatullah Fadlallah say that it is Haram, but does not invalidate your fast?

    The answer is in two parts:

    1. Any Haram action does not invalidate your fast - e.g. lying (although wrong) does not break the fast i.e. you do not have to do a qada (repeat) fast; giving someone a poison pill whilst praying, does not break the prayer but is haram -> it is possible that this act is Haram but does not invalidate your fast

    2. It is possible to have acts that are only Haram in specific states e.g. when you are married, you are not allowed to marry someone else -> it is possible that in the state of fasting, this act becomes Haram

    Hope that helps!

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