What is the ruling on fasting voluntary fasts in a group, and this is in the context of cooperating in righteousness and piety?
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The questioner : He says:The questioner : May Allah reward you for your benefit. What is the ruling on group fasting, such as a group of people agreeing to fast specific days like Mondays and Thursdays, in the context of cooperating in righteousness and piety? Since a person is weak on his own and is strengthened by his brothers, what is the ruling on that?
The Shaykh : I see that it is not from the Sunnah and that it is a type of religious innovation if they agree on it, because if we deny the collective takbir or the collective dhikr, for example, and this is also fasting, and fasting is worship, then it should not be collective. However, without agreement, there is no harm, such as if it happens that we fasted on a Monday, and some of us say to others, "Whoever is fasting, let the iftar be at so-and-so's house," and we agreed to break our fast there. This is permissible because it is an incidental matter and not an agreement on worship. Gathering for acts of worship and doing them individually are among the prescribed matters. Therefore, had Allah not prescribed for us to pray in congregation, we would not have prayed in congregation, and the congregational prayer would have been an innovation. But Allah prescribed it for us. Likewise, fasting in a group and agreeing on it in advance is a type of religious innovation.
The fasting of Ramadan is brought up to us, are we not fasting in a group? Yes, but it is obligatory, it is prescribed that all people fast in this month. So I see that they should abandon this way, and that a person should seek help from Allah the Exalted and rely on himself. And if a person does not perform an act of worship except by leaning on a cane, meaning except when others do it, then his determination is weak. Yes.
The Shaykh : I see that it is not from the Sunnah and that it is a type of religious innovation if they agree on it, because if we deny the collective takbir or the collective dhikr, for example, and this is also fasting, and fasting is worship, then it should not be collective. However, without agreement, there is no harm, such as if it happens that we fasted on a Monday, and some of us say to others, "Whoever is fasting, let the iftar be at so-and-so's house," and we agreed to break our fast there. This is permissible because it is an incidental matter and not an agreement on worship. Gathering for acts of worship and doing them individually are among the prescribed matters. Therefore, had Allah not prescribed for us to pray in congregation, we would not have prayed in congregation, and the congregational prayer would have been an innovation. But Allah prescribed it for us. Likewise, fasting in a group and agreeing on it in advance is a type of religious innovation.
The fasting of Ramadan is brought up to us, are we not fasting in a group? Yes, but it is obligatory, it is prescribed that all people fast in this month. So I see that they should abandon this way, and that a person should seek help from Allah the Exalted and rely on himself. And if a person does not perform an act of worship except by leaning on a cane, meaning except when others do it, then his determination is weak. Yes.