Islamic Fiqh > Fasting > Ramadan: fasting, rules and dispensations > The conditions of validity of the Ramadan fast
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Updated on 27 September 2026 at 3:52 AM
The sheets distinguish two sets of conditions: those that place the obligation upon a person, health, residence and absence of menses, and those without which a fast already begun does not count, purity from menses and lochia, freedom from what voids the fast, and the intention. The schools rule point by point, from the status of the child trained to fast to the seat of the intention.
Every opinion is reported as the sources attribute it, with the proofs and hadith numbers as they appear in the sheets.
The Hanafis, the Shafi'is and the Hanbalis: the guardian commands the child to fast when he is able, and strikes him at that point if he neglects fasting to the point of making a habit of it, as with prayer; fasting being harder, capability was taken into account, for it happens that someone manages prayer without managing the fast.
The Malikis: fasting is discouraged for him, and fasting is not like prayer (Bada'i' al-Sana'i', 2/600; al-Mughni, 4/218; al-Ifsah, 1/381; al-Majmu', 7/415).
The conditions of fulfilment, that is, being free of the obligation at its appointed time, are three. The first: health and freedom from illness, by Allah's words: "whoever among you is sick or on a journey" (surah al-Baqarah 185). The second: residence, by the same verse. The third: the woman being free of menses and lochia, the menstruating woman and the woman in lochia not being fit to fast, by the Prophet's hadith (peace and blessings be upon him): "Is it not that when she menstruates she neither prays nor fasts?" (narrated by al-Bukhari (304)), and by the hadith of Aishah (may Allah be pleased with her):
What makes the menstruating woman make up the fast without making up the prayer? Mu'adhah said: are you a Harruriyyah? Aishah said: I am no Harruriyyah, but I am asking; we went through that, and we were commanded to make up the fast without being commanded to make up the prayer.
narrated by al-Bukhari (231) and Muslim (335)
the command to make up being an extension of the obligation to perform. Consensus on this status is reported by Ibn al-Mundhir, Ibn Jarir, at-Tirmidhi, al-Nawawi, Ibn Hubayrah and others. Ibn Juzayy sets the scope: "health and residence are two conditions of the obligation of fasting, not of its validity nor of the obligation to make up; the obligation of fasting drops for the sick person and the traveller, making up becomes obligatory upon them by consensus if they break the fast, and their fast is valid if they fast, contrary to the Zahiris" (al-Qawanin al-Fiqhiyya, p. 78).
The jurists agree that the menstruating woman and the woman in lochia cannot fast: they break and make up, and if they fast, their fast is invalid, obligation or voluntary, by the hadith "Is it not that when she menstruates she neither prays nor fasts?" (narrated by al-Bukhari (304)). As soon as a woman sees blood for one hour of the day, the fast of that day falls. Consensus is reported by al-Nawawi, Ibn Jarir, Ibn Qudamah, Ibn Hubayrah and others. Ibn Battal writes: "his words: is it not that when she menstruates she neither prays nor fasts, are an explicit text establishing that prayer drops for the menstruating woman and that fasting is forbidden to her during her days of menses; the nation stands on this, and they agreed that she makes up the fast, with no making up of prayer, except a faction of the Khawarij who impose the make-up of prayer on her, the scholars of the nation, early and late, being against them" (Sharh Sahih al-Bukhari, 1/419).
Ibn Qudamah (al-Mughni, 3/38-39) gathers: the people of knowledge agreed that the menstruating woman and the woman in lochia cannot fast, that they break Ramadan and make up, and that their fast, if they fast, is not counted for them; Aishah (may Allah be pleased with her): "we menstruated in the lifetime of the Messenger of Allah, and we were commanded to make up the fast without being commanded to make up the prayer" (agreed upon); the command comes only from the Prophet; Abu Sa'id reports that the Prophet said: "Is it not that one of you, when she menstruates, neither prays nor fasts? That is part of the deficiency of her religion" (narrated by al-Bukhari). The menstruating woman and the woman in lochia are equal, the blood of lochia being the blood of menses and sharing its ruling; as soon as menses appears during part of the day, the fast of that day falls, at its start as at its end; and if she intends the fast and abstains while knowing the prohibition, she sins and the fast is not counted for her. al-Nawawi reports consensus on forbidding fasting to the menstruating woman and the woman in lochia and on its invalidity, transmitted from Ibn Jarir; the Imam of the Two Sanctuaries comments: "that fasting is invalid from her is a meaning that cannot be grasped; purity is not a condition in it" (al-Majmu', 2/357); Ibn Rajab sums up: "the nation agreed that the menstruating woman does not fast during her days of menses, that her fast is not valid nor counted, and that she makes up the fast upon purification" (Fath al-Bari, 1/421).
Making up Ramadan is obligatory upon them by agreement, by the hadith of Mu'adhah already cited; consensus is reported by Ibn al-Mundhir, Ibn Jarir, at-Tirmidhi, al-Nawawi and Ibn Hubayrah. al-Qurtubi: "the scholars agreed that the menstruating woman makes up the fast without making up the prayer, by the hadith of Mu'adhah" (Tafsir al-Qurtubi, 3/83). al-Nawawi: the fast of the menstruating woman and the woman in lochia is neither valid nor required, it is forbidden to them and its make-up obligatory, all of it by consensus (al-Majmu', 7/420). One last point of agreement: menses does not interrupt the continuity of consecutive expiation fasts, for it negates fasting, the month being almost never free of it, and postponement to the age of old age carrying a risk; the Hanafis except from this rule the expiation of the oath and its like (Hashiyat Ibn Abidin, 1/485; al-Qawanin al-Fiqhiyya, p. 77; al-Majmu', 2/357).
The second condition of validity: being free of what voids the fast when it befalls the fasting person, such as intercourse (Muragi al-Falah, p. 348-349). The detailed invalidators, dietary, marital and intentional, belong to the following pages; the principle holds in this: what breaks, once it has occurred, strips the fast of its validity, and the make-up, and where applicable the expiation, takes over.
The third condition: the intention, for the Ramadan fast is an act of worship and is valid only with the intention, like the other acts of worship, by the hadith "deeds are only by intentions" (narrated by al-Bukhari (1)). Abstention, indeed, may come from habit, from lack of appetite, from illness or from athletic training: it becomes fasting only through the intention, as standing without intention is not prayer nor pilgrimage without intention. al-Nawawi rules: "no fast is valid, in any state, without the intention; the seat of the intention is the heart; no disagreement: the pronouncement of the tongue is not required, and no disagreement: it does not replace the intention of the heart" (al-Majmu', 7/482). The qualities, times and special cases of the intention fill the page devoted to it.
In practice, three checks open each day of Ramadan: being in health and resident, being free of menses or lochia for the woman, and carrying nothing that voids the fast. The sick person and the traveller make up by consensus, the menstruating woman makes up the days without making up the prayers, and the child is trained to fast according to capacity, in the manner of the schools that order it and with the restraint of those that discourage it.