Islamic Fiqh > Fasting > Ramadan: fasting, rules and dispensations > The intention of the Ramadan fast
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Updated on 27 September 2026 at 3:52 AM
The intention is the pillar that turns a day spent without eating into a fast. The sheets break it into four qualities: a resolute intention, free of hesitation; an intention that names the fast intended, Ramadan, make-up, expiation or vow; an intention taken at night for every obligatory fast; an intention that holds until dawn and does not turn back on itself.
The voluntary fast, more lenient, is treated separately, as are loss of consciousness after the intention and the desire to break the fast during the day.
The vizier Ibn Hubayrah reports the agreement on requiring an intention for the obligatory fast of the month of Ramadan: it is not permitted without an intention (al-Ifsah, 1/383; Bidayat al-Mujtahid, 1/402). The jurists further require it to be resolute, specific, taken at night and renewed.
On resolution, the majority of jurists, Malikis, Shafi'is and Hanbalis in the madhhab, require an intention that settles the doubt. Whoever, on the night of doubt, intends to fast the next day without knowing whether the day belongs to Ramadan holds no valid fast: were it revealed to be Ramadan, the fast would have been obligatory, otherwise voluntary, and when Ramadan is revealed, his fast is invalid for lack of resolution; he resembles the one who would say: if I find food tomorrow, I break, otherwise I fast. Exception: if he speaks thus on the thirtieth night of Ramadan, his fast is valid when Ramadan appears, for it rests on an established base whose disappearance is not proven, doubt not undermining a judgment made with resolution; unlike the thirtieth night of Sha'ban, where no base supports the intention, the initial state being the continuation of Sha'ban (al-Qawanin al-Fiqhiyya, p. 80; al-Mughni, 4/130-131; al-Insaf, 3/295-296).
More lenient courses exist. Ahmad in one narration, chosen by Ibn Taymiyyah, holds valid the intention: if tomorrow is Ramadan, it is the obligatory, otherwise the voluntary; and this fast counts for Ramadan. This is also the Hanafi view. al-Marghinani specifies: whoever intended Ramadan were it Ramadan and the voluntary fast otherwise is disapproved, intending the obligatory from one side; if Ramadan appears, his fast counts for it, and if Sha'ban appears, it stands as voluntary, worship being performed by the origin of the intention (al-Hidaya, 1/120; al-Mughni, 4/131; al-Insaf, 3/294-295).
Malikis, Shafi'is and Hanbalis in the madhhab require specifying the intention in every obligatory fast: believing that one fasts tomorrow a day of Ramadan, or of its make-up, or of an expiation, or of a vow; without this specification, the intention does not count, and whoever intends an absolute fast or the voluntary fast is not discharged, by the Prophet's words: "each person has only what he intended" (sahih hadith, cited above). The proofs line up: the obligatory fast requires specification like the tawaf of visit, where intending the farewell tawaf or an absolute tawaf does not count; fasting is an act of worship tied to a time, like the five prayers; and specification is a goal in itself, the specification of the make-up standing for the intention of the make-up, the obligatory within the obligatory (al-Majmu', 7/488; al-Mughni, 4/131; al-Ishraf, 1/195).
Ahmad in one narration does not require specification for Ramadan: an absolute intention stands, as does a voluntary intention at night, or an obligatory intention filled with doubt (al-Mughni, 4/131; al-Insaf, 3/294).
The Hanafis divide fasting into two categories. In the first, specification is not required: Ramadan in the course of fulfilment, the vow whose time is fixed, and the voluntary fast; a bare intention to fast suffices, for Ramadan is a measure that leaves room for no other fast of its kind, hence already specified, and the vow at a fixed time owes its character to Allah's imposition. In the second, specification is required: the make-up of Ramadan, the make-up of a voided voluntary fast, expiations of every kind and the absolute vow, conditional or not; with no fixed time, a precise and decisive intention is required to preclude rivalry (al-Mabsut, 3/61; Bada'i' al-Sana'i', 2/602-603; ad-Durr al-Mukhtar, 2/85; al-Ikhtiyar, 1/127; al-Fatawa al-Hindiyya, 1/195-196).
The jurists are united: every fast inscribed in the obligation, such as the make-up of Ramadan, the make-up of a vow and the expiations, is fasted only with an intention taken at night (al-Ifsah, 1/385; al-Mughni, 4/126). They differ on the fast of Ramadan and the vow at a fixed time: is the night intention required, or does a day intention suffice? The majority, Malikis, Shafi'is and Hanbalis, require the night intention for Ramadan and every obligatory fast:
Whoever does not resolve upon the fast before dawn has no fast.
narrated by Abu Dawud (2454), Ahmad (6/287), at-Tirmidhi (730) and an-Nasa'i (2331, 2333)
in one version: "whoever does not make the intention for fasting at night has no fast". The arguments follow: the obligatory fast requires the nocturnal intention as do the make-up and the vows; the intention being a condition of legal fasting, it is not admitted that the fast pass part of the day without it; and the worship that is performed and made up must equalize the time of the intention in performance and make-up, like prayer.
The night intention is set between sunset and dawn: before sunset, it counts with no one; after dawn, it no longer counts; the intention being a seeking, seeking the past is rationally impossible. Coinciding with sunset or dawn, or doubting, voids the intention with the Malikis; one Maliki course holds valid the coincidence with dawn, like the takbir of ihram, the origin of the intention being coincidence with the intended; Abd al-Wahhab, al-Lakhmi and Ibn Rushd admit the intention with the rise of dawn, while Ibn Abd al-Hakam refuses it even in coincidence; the wording of al-Qarafi, Ibn Bashir and Ibn al-Hajib indicates that coincidence with dawn is the origin, the advance having been tolerated out of regard for the difficulty of aiming at it (Sharh Mukhtasar Khalil, 2/246; Hashiyat ad-Dasuqi, 1/519-520; Balghat as-Salik, 1/449).
Three points of agreement hold among Malikis, Shafi'is and Hanbalis: no need to aim at the second half of the night, any portion of the night suffices, the text of the hadith being unqualified and specifying the second half risking deprivation of the fast, an hour of sleep in which many give no thought to fasting, such specification being arbitrary without proof; after the intention, eating, drinking or having relations at night takes nothing away, worship not yet being worn; and whoever sleeps after the intention then wakes before dawn need not renew it (al-Majmu', 7/479, 484; al-Mughni, 4/128-129; Kashshaf al-Qina', 2/315).
The Hanafis require the night intention neither for Ramadan, nor for the fixed vow, nor for the voluntary fast: whoever has not taken the intention by morning may take it until noon, half the day, the essential being that the greater part be intended; after noon, the intention is no longer admitted. The most meritorious remains the specified night intention, to exit the disagreement (al-Ikhtiyar, 1/136; Bada'i' al-Sana'i', 2/606). They rely on the account of the day of doubt: the people were already fasting in the morning when a Bedouin came to testify to seeing the crescent; the Prophet had him render the double testimony, pronounced: Allah is greater, one of their own suffices the Muslims, fasted and ordered the fast, then had it called: whoever ate, let him cease for the rest of his day, whoever did not eat, let him fast. The commentaries note that this detailed account is not accepted by the verifiers, what is authentic with the two shaykhs being the version of Salamah ibn al-Akwa' concerning Ashura (al-Ikhtiyar, 1/135; Nasb ar-Raya, 2/435; ad-Diraya, 1/275).
The majority of jurists, Hanafis, Shafi'is and Hanbalis, hold that all the voluntary fast is validated by a day intention taken before noon, with no night intention, on condition of having done nothing that breaks before the intention:
The Prophet entered upon me one day and said: do you have anything? We said: no. He said: I am then fasting.
narrated by Muslim (1154)
the argument being the lightness of the voluntary fast: the voluntary night standing may be left without losing its validity, not the obligatory. The account of Salamah ibn al-Akwa' (may Allah be pleased with him) runs the same way:
The Prophet ordered a man of Aslam to call the people: whoever ate, let him fast the rest of his day, and whoever did not eat, let him fast; today is the day of Ashura.
narrated by al-Bukhari (1903) and Muslim (1135)
the fast of Ashura having been obligatory then abrogated by the obligation of Ramadan (Tibyin al-Haqa'iq, 1/314; al-Hidaya, 1/118).
Difference over the intention after noon.
The Hanbalis in the madhhab and the Shafi'is in one opinion validate it, by the hadith of Aishah, the account of Ashura, the view of Mu'adh, Hudhayfah and Ibn Mas'ud with no known opponent, and the reasoning that the whole day serves the intention of the voluntary fast as the whole night serves that of the obligatory. Then the question of reward: most Shafi'is and Abu al-Khattab of the Hanbalis make it run from dawn, fasting not being divided within the day, eating part of it stripping the rest, having fasted part of it proving the fast from its start, like the one who catches part of a rak'ah or of the congregational prayer; the Hanbali course and Abu Ishaq al-Marwazi make it run from the intention alone, nothing having been intended before it, by "deeds are only by intentions" and the purity of the worship. Against validation after noon: the Hanafis, the Shafi'is in the soundest view and some Hanbalis, the intention having to accompany the greater part of the worship, like intending at sunset; the first half is distinct, the greater part there standing for the whole, like the greater part of the rak'ah with the imam (Bada'i' al-Sana'i', 2/606; al-Majmu', 7/485-486; al-Mughni, 4/134-135).
The Malikis, with al-Muzani and Abu Yahya al-Balkhi of the Shafi'is, require the night intention even for the voluntary fast, by the generality of the hadith "whoever does not make the intention for fasting at night has no fast", by the equality of the voluntary and the obligatory in a worship whose validity requires the intention, like prayer, and by the equivalence of the intention after dawn with that after noon (al-Sharh al-Saghir, 1/450; Bidayat al-Mujtahid, 1/404; Jawahir al-Iklil, 1/148; al-Mughni, 4/132).
The people of knowledge are united: whoever renews the intention every night of Ramadan fasts a complete fast (al-Ijma', 123; al-Ishraf, 3/115). The difference bears on a single intention for the whole month. The majority, Hanafis, Shafi'is and Hanbalis in the madhhab, rejects it: each day of Ramadan requires its intention, the fast of each day being an independent act of worship that enters with dawn and leaves at sunset, untouched by the fast of the previous day or by the invalidity of the next; a single intention therefore does not suffice, as with the prayers, by the hadith "whoever does not make the intention for fasting at night has no fast" (sahih hadith, cited above).
The Malikis and Ahmad in one narration validate it: one intention for the whole month, so long as he does not revoke it, by "each person has only what he intended", the month forming a single worship like the pilgrimage and the rak'ahs of a prayer, and the intention having been taken in a time proper to fasting (al-Mughni, 4/131-132; al-Insaf, 3/293).
For consecutive fasts, expiations and continuing vows, continuity is required: travel, illness, menses, lochia or madness break it; after interruption, the night intention becomes necessary at every resumption, even if the fasting person kept his fast while travelling or sick, and even if the impediment arises after sunset and disappears before dawn. The intention remains recommended every night where a single one suffices, and the same holds for every consecutive fast, make-up, expiation or continuing vow such as the vow of a month (al-Qawanin al-Fiqhiyya, p. 80; al-Majmu', 7/482, 498; al-Mughni, 4/130).
Stability next: whoever takes the intention at night then turns back on it before dawn is no longer fasting. al-Nawawi reports from al-Mutawalli: whoever intends at night then breaks the intention before dawn sees its status fall, the abandonment of the intention being the opposite of the intention; unlike the one who eats at night after the intention: nothing falls, eating not being its opposite (al-Majmu', 7/495). al-Tahtawi, on the Hanafi side, specifies: the retraction before dawn is admitted and he is no longer fasting; if he eats, only the make-up is due, with no expiation for Ramadan, his retraction resembling the course of those who require the nocturnal intention, unless he renews the intention by intending the fast at the time of intention, the first having fallen through the retraction (Hashiyat at-Tahtawi, p. 354; Hashiyat ad-Dasuqi, 1/528; Kashshaf al-Qina', 2/316).
The formula: I fast tomorrow if Allah wills, nullifies nothing when the if Allah wills aims at blessing or at the fast's realization and the preservation of life to its end by Allah's will, as faith is not nullified by: I believe if Allah wills. The qadi of the Hanbalis extends it: any worship whose intention mentions the divine will is not nullified, so long as one aims neither at doubt nor at hesitation. On the other hand, if the if expresses doubt about the fast itself, hesitation in the resolve or hesitation in the purpose of intending, the fast is not valid (al-Majmu', 7/493; Hashiyat at-Tahtawi, p. 354; al-Ifsah, 3/296).
The jurists differ over whoever wishes to break during the day without eating.
The Hanafis, the Shafi'is in the madhhab and Ibn Hamid of the Hanbalis hold that he does not break, like the one who proposes to speak in his prayer without speaking; al-Bayjuri specifies: the retraction of the night intention harms, that of the day does not (al-Majmu', 7/492; Hashiyat al-Bayjuri, 1/300; ad-Durr al-Mukhtar, 2/123).
The Malikis, the Hanbalis in the madhhab and some Shafi'is hold that he breaks his fast: the intention being a condition of the whole fast, cutting it leaves the rest without intention, and the fallen part carries the whole, the parts not being distinct (al-Majmu', 7/491; al-Qawanin al-Fiqhiyya, p. 80).
The Mudawwanah fixes the Maliki course: whoever enters Ramadan with the intention to break and neither eats nor drinks until sunset owes make-up and expiation; if he aimed at breaking then returned to the intention to fast before sunrise, make-up and expiation likewise; in one case Malik is reported to have hesitated over the expiation, his preference going to the expiation joined to the make-up; in the case of a deliberate aim to break then a return to fasting, Malik is reported to have said: make-up and expiation, and Ibn al-Qasim rules likewise (al-Mudawwana al-Kubra, 1/220). al-Nawawi adds: this when he settles the exit on the spot; if he hesitates over the exit or conditions it on Zayd's entry, the fast does not fall, according to the course settled by most, in one opinion (al-Majmu', 7/492).
The Hanbalis generalize: whoever aims at breaking, his fast falls; whoever hesitates over breaking, or says: if I find food, I eat, otherwise I complete, his fast falls too, for the hesitation, as prayer falls through revoking the intention, the presumption of the worship's continuity to its end being a condition. Outside Ramadan, the day fasted as voluntary remains valid despite the aim to break; likewise, in the voluntary fast, aiming to break then returning to the intention leaves the fast valid, the voluntary intention standing by day, even after noon (al-Mughni, 4/174; al-Insaf, 3/297; Matalib Uli an-Nuha, 2/188).
Whoever takes the intention at night then suffers fainting, madness or intoxication before dawn: if he comes to himself during part of the day, the majority of jurists hold his fast valid, the agreement being reported by the vizier Ibn Hubayrah (al-Ifsah, 1/421).
The Malikis detail: fainting before dawn followed by waking long after is not counted, with no disagreement; waking after a short while does not count in the most widespread course; fainting after dawn followed by waking after a short while counts, waking after noon or around it does not. Intoxication through lawful drink follows the same detail as fainting; persistent unlawful intoxication at night carries the make-up, by priority for having caused it, without its being permitted to eat the rest of the day; as for the sleeper, his intention at the start of the month followed by a month of sleep leaves his fast valid and his obligation discharged, with no equivalence to lawful intoxication; madness takes the ruling of the unconscious one (Hashiyat al-Adawi, 1/575).
Whoever wakes only after sunset: Malikis, Shafi'is and Hanbalis hold his fast invalid: the fast is abstention with intention, by the hadith: every deed of the son of Adam is for him, except fasting; it is for Me and I reward it; he leaves his food and his drink for My sake (sahih hadith, cited above), the abstention of the unconscious one not being attributed to him, and the intention, one of the two pillars, not sufficing alone, as abstention alone does not suffice.
The Hanafis hold it valid: his intention is complete, and the loss of consciousness afterwards does not bar the fast, like sleep (al-Mughni, 4/136; al-Bahr ar-Ra'iq, 2/277). Finally, whoever wakes during the day with no night intention: the Hanafis count the fast for him if he wakes before noon and takes the intention, Ramadan being validated by an intention before noon, and invalidate it after noon; Malikis, Shafi'is and Hanbalis hold invalidity in every case (al-Fatawa al-Hindiyya, 1/196; al-Mudawwana al-Kubra, 1/208; al-Mughni, 4/136; al-Insaf, 3/292-293).
In practice, the formula that runs through every disagreement holds in one line: decide, at night, to fast tomorrow the fast of Ramadan, and hold to it until dawn. This single intention, resolute, specific and made at night, is valid with every school; the fasting person who hesitates or retracts before dawn follows the broadest course. For the voluntary fast begun during the day, the majority admits it before noon; for the unconscious person, the schools split between validity and making up.