The Shaykh’s explanation of the categories of things that break the fast and their details: material fast-breakers and spiritual fast-breakers.

The Shaykh: And on this occasion, I would like to mention a point that the well-known books of jurisprudence do not usually address, let alone the books of hadith, which rarely deal with the detailed explanation of legal rulings that is usually found in books of jurisprudence. I say that the things that break the fast are of two types: material fast-breakers and spiritual fast-breakers. The material fast-breakers are those around which traditional jurisprudence revolves; all books of jurisprudence mention the material fast-breakers. As for the spiritual fast-breakers, which is the second category, in my opinion, regarding the realization of the purpose for which Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) legislated fasting, these spiritual fast-breakers are more dangerous than the material fast-breakers. By purpose, I mean what Allah (Mighty and Majestic) concluded the verse of fasting with when He said in the Qur'an: Why? So, fasting is not only for the Muslim to forbid himself food and drink, even if it is obedience to his Lord; no, rather, he must also forbid himself what is forbidden to him outside the month of fasting. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) clarified this meaning, and from this I derived this addition regarding spiritual fast-breakers, namely his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): , . This hadith confirms the meaning to which our Lord (Blessed and Exalted is He) referred in the conclusion of the previous verse: Allah, meaning you should stay away from engaging in what Allah has forbidden you, not only from the material fast-breakers we mentioned, but also from the spiritual, moral fast-breakers. lying, these matters, and many other sins like them are not mentioned in the chapter on fast-breakers. The truth is that I observe here, after this classification which is inescapable for one who seeks to understand the religion to acknowledge it, something: the scholars have unanimously agreed that the fast-breakers that invalidate the fast of the one fasting are these material fast-breakers. This is a consensus, despite their disagreement on some of the fast-breakers, which is another matter with no room for discussion here. However, they did not mention alongside these material fast-breakers the fast-breakers I called spiritual or moral fast-breakers. Why? Because there is nothing explicit in the Shari'ah that fasting is invalidated by lying, giving false testimony, and the like of sins. So this was a mercy from Allah (Mighty and Majestic) to His servants in one aspect, because if He had obligated them as is the view of Ibn Hazm—actually, Ibn Hazm is very broad in invalidating fasting with the slightest sin, meaning if one lies a lie, his fasting is void; if he backbites, gossips, or engages in talebearing, etc., his fasting is void—this would fall under the category of obligating what is beyond capacity. And Allah (Mighty and Majestic) says: . So our Lord (Mighty and Majestic), by His wisdom, we find that on one hand, He said on the tongue of His Prophet: , so He is encouraging the Muslim who is fasting to fear Allah in this aspect as well. But out of mercy to His servants, He did not make these spiritual fast-breakers like the material fast-breakers, meaning that they invalidate the fast; otherwise, there would be no one left fasting. But the Muslim who is eager to obey Allah (Mighty and Majestic) practically does not distinguish between material fast-breakers and spiritual fast-breakers in practice, in that just as he avoids material fast-breakers, he also avoids spiritual fast-breakers. And the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) confirmed this meaning mentioned in the previous hadith with another hadith, which is very great, namely his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): or ; so if we know this type of fast-breakers with its two categories.