We came to Saudi Arabia and began fasting with them, but we will return during the month. Should we follow the fasting of our country, or the fasting we started here?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : We came to Saudi Arabia and began fasting with them, but we will return during the month. Should we follow the fasting of our country, or the fasting we started here?
The Shaykh : I say that what one should do, may Allah bless you, and this is an important issue, is that a person should not depart from the ruling of the scholars of his country, neither to align with Saudi Arabia nor any other place. Because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: and the Day of Sacrifice is the day on which people sacrifice. Deviating from the community is not praiseworthy in the Shari'ah. So if you are in a country and you hear that in an Islamic country they have fasted, but the scholars in your country have not fasted or have not ordered fasting, then do not fast. You have proof from Allah, by the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): So as long as the people have not fasted, do not fast. You are worshipping Allah by the law of Allah, not by whim, so do not fast. But if you are in a land where its people have fasted and your country has not fasted, what do you do? Fast with them, even if your country has not fasted, because you are now in agreement with the community. So if the month is confirmed here in our time and the people fast, and you and your country have not fasted, for example, fast. And when you arrive in your country, do not break your fast except with them.
The questioner : Even if it exceeds thirty days.
The Shaykh : Even if it reaches thirty-two days, because fasting is the day on which people fast and breaking the fast is the day on which people break their fast. Adding a day or two is like adding an hour or two. If you, for example, stayed at the time of Fajr in eastern countries and traveled to western countries, hours would be added to you, would they not?
You stayed at five in the morning in a country and headed west. It is known that the sun is delayed, so an hour or two or more would be added to you. And so it is with the monthly timing. The monthly timing is like the daily timing. Just as if you traveled from the east to the west, hours would be added to you, so it is with the sighting of the crescent. As long as the people have not broken their fast, you remain fasting. But tell me, if the situation were the reverse, meaning you came from a country where their fasting is delayed to a country where it is earlier, and the breaking of the fast is confirmed there, and you have only fasted twenty-eight days, what do you do?
We say: Break your fast with them and make up one day, because the month cannot be less than twenty-nine days, neither in your country nor in the other country.
The Shaykh : I say that what one should do, may Allah bless you, and this is an important issue, is that a person should not depart from the ruling of the scholars of his country, neither to align with Saudi Arabia nor any other place. Because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said:
Fasting is the day the people fast, and breaking the fast is the day the people break their fast.
الصوم يوم يصوم الناس والفطر يوم يفطر الناسFasting is the day the people fast
الصوم يوم يصوم الناسThe questioner : Even if it exceeds thirty days.
The Shaykh : Even if it reaches thirty-two days, because fasting is the day on which people fast and breaking the fast is the day on which people break their fast. Adding a day or two is like adding an hour or two. If you, for example, stayed at the time of Fajr in eastern countries and traveled to western countries, hours would be added to you, would they not?
You stayed at five in the morning in a country and headed west. It is known that the sun is delayed, so an hour or two or more would be added to you. And so it is with the monthly timing. The monthly timing is like the daily timing. Just as if you traveled from the east to the west, hours would be added to you, so it is with the sighting of the crescent. As long as the people have not broken their fast, you remain fasting. But tell me, if the situation were the reverse, meaning you came from a country where their fasting is delayed to a country where it is earlier, and the breaking of the fast is confirmed there, and you have only fasted twenty-eight days, what do you do?
We say: Break your fast with them and make up one day, because the month cannot be less than twenty-nine days, neither in your country nor in the other country.