Kitab al-Sawm: Categories of Fasting and Rules of Intention

1. Opening of the book of fasting

كِتَابُ الصَّوْمِ
Translation: Book of Fasting.

The lexical sense of sawm is abstention. Legally, fasting is an act of worship involving specified abstentions during a designated time with intention. The opening passage first classifies fasts and assigns different deadlines for intention.

This is a new course category. The subsequent pages address crescent sighting, duration, and what invalidates a fast; those matters are outside this opening lesson.

2. The two primary categories

الصَّوْمُ ضَرْبَانِ: وَاجِبٌ، وَنَفْلٌ.
Translation: Fasting is of two kinds: obligatory and voluntary.

Wajib here denotes fasting owed as a religious duty, whereas nafl is voluntary at the point it is undertaken. This division underlies the intention rules that follow.

The two labels do not mean that every fast may be commenced in the same way. A missed Ramadan fast or expiatory fast is not treated like a fresh voluntary fast.

3. Two kinds of obligatory fasting

فَالْوَاجِبُ ضَرْبَانِ:
Translation: The obligatory category is itself of two kinds.

Quduri divides the obligatory class into two. One is attached to a definite time; the other remains owed in a person’s liability without a specific assigned day.

A predetermined date identifies the duty in the first class. In the second, the worshipper must identify which outstanding fast is being discharged.

4. An obligation linked to a specific time

مِنْهُ مَا يَتَعَلَّقُ بِزَمَانٍ بِعَيْنِهِ،
Translation: Some obligatory fasts are attached to a specific period.

“A specified time” means that the fast’s day is already assigned. Ramadan is fixed by its month; a valid vow specifying an exact day likewise has a fixed date.

The fixed-date rule does not give someone unrestricted choice to shift an ordinary Ramadan obligation to another date. A missed Ramadan day is separately classified as qada.

5. Ramadan and a specified vow

كَصَوْمِ رَمَضَانَ، وَالنَّذْرِ الْمُعَيَّنِ،
Translation: Such as the fast of Ramadan and a vow for a particular day.

Ramadan fasting is fixed by the sacred month. A specified vow names a valid day for fasting. Quduri groups both together for this particular intention-timing rule.

For example, a legally valid vow to fast on an upcoming Monday fixes the date. It differs from a vow to fast some unspecified day in the future.

6. Intention from the preceding night

فَيَجُوزُ صَوْمُهُ بِنِيَّةٍ مِنَ اللَّيْلِ.
Translation: It is valid to fast it with an intention made at night.

For a time-fixed obligatory fast, intention may be formed during the preceding night. Here “the night” is the night immediately leading into the fast, not an unrelated earlier day.

Intention is an inward determination. Pronouncing a fixed Arabic formula is not a prerequisite; the person should know that they intend the next day’s fast.

7. A permitted daytime intention in this class

فَإِنْ لَمْ يَنْوِ حَتَّى أَصْبَحَ:
Translation: If he had not made the intention by morning.

“If he has not intended until morning” describes omission of a formal intention during the night. Quduri allows a later intention for this fixed-time class within the stated deadline.

The permission presupposes that nothing invalidating the fast has been done after true dawn. The precise end of the window needs care, as the source phrase and later Hanafi clarification are not identical.

8. The original wording about the deadline

أَجْزَأَتْهُ النِّيَّةُ مَا بَيْنَهُ وَبَيْنَ الزَّوَالِ.
Translation: An intention made between morning and zawal is sufficient for him.

Quduri literally says the intention is effective between morning and zawal. This wording should not be casually translated into permission to delay until just before the local Dhuhr prayer.

Later authoritative Hanafi commentary prefers a stricter boundary: before the midpoint of the legal fasting day. It is best to intend before dawn rather than rely on the last permissible moment.

9. A fast outstanding as a personal liability

وَالضَّرْبُ الثَّانِي: مَا يَثْبُتُ فِي الذِّمَّةِ،
Translation: The second category consists of fasts established as a liability.

A fast “established as a liability” is still owed, but today’s date by itself is not assigned to that duty.

When making up a missed Ramadan fast, the current date does not automatically identify which obligation is being fulfilled. The intention must identify the obligation, and its timing is more restrictive.

10. Making up a missed Ramadan fast

كَقَضَاءِ رَمَضَانَ،
Translation: Such as making up missed Ramadan fasts.

Qada of Ramadan is a fast due for a missed Ramadan day. The replacement date is not itself a Ramadan day, so the fast must be expressly intended as a make-up fast.

For example, fasting on a day in Shawwal to discharge a missed Ramadan fast requires an intention made in the preceding night. A newly formed intention that morning is insufficient for this category.

11. Unspecified and specified vows

وَالنَّذْرِ الْمُطْلَقِ،
Translation: And fasts owed under an unspecified vow.

A specified vow names the intended fasting day; an unspecified vow imposes fasting without naming a day. Quduri places the latter in the liability-based category.

Consequently, a morning-only intention does not discharge an unspecified obligatory vow. The legal conditions for a vow’s validity are a separate subject and should not be inferred from this timing rule.

12. Expiatory fasts

وَالْكَفَّارَاتِ،
Translation: And fasts undertaken as expiation.

Kaffarah is a legally prescribed expiation for a particular cause. Where fasting is required as expiation, the current day is not independently designated as such by the calendar.

Accordingly, Quduri lists expiatory fasting among liability-based duties. The circumstances, number, and sequence of those fasts belong to their own substantive legal chapters; this passage establishes the intention rule.

13. Night intention for outstanding duties

فَلَا يَجُوزُ صَوْمُهُ إِلَّا بِنِيَّةٍ مِنَ اللَّيْلِ.
Translation: Such fasting is not valid without intention made at night.

This is the decisive rule for make-up Ramadan fasts, unspecified vows, and expiatory fasts: intention must already have been made during the preceding night. A first intention formed in the morning does not fulfil the specified obligation.

The distinction concerns designation. Ramadan has an externally assigned date; an outstanding duty needs identification through intention.

14. Intention for a voluntary fast

وَالنَّفْلُ كُلُّهُ يَجُوزُ بِنِيَّةٍ قَبْلَ الزَّوَالِ.
Translation: All voluntary fasting is valid with an intention made before zawal.

For a voluntary fast, Quduri also permits intention during the day within the stated deadline, provided the fast has not been invalidated since dawn.

That flexibility does not turn the resulting fast into a discharged Ramadan make-up, unspecified vow, or expiatory duty. Its legal category remains important.

15. The more precise Hanafi cut-off

The base text uses “before zawal”. Later Hanafi authorities, including Fath al-Qadir and Radd al-Muhtar, prefer “before al-dahwah al-kubra”: the midpoint of the interval from true dawn to sunset.

This legal midpoint usually occurs earlier than astronomical midday/zawal. The learner should not treat “just before Dhuhr” as a safe practical deadline. The original author’s words are preserved while the juristic qualification is disclosed.

16. Illustration of the legal midpoint

Illustration only: if true dawn were 05:00 and sunset 19:00, the legal fasting day would span 14 hours. Its midpoint would therefore occur 7 hours after dawn, at 12:00.

These are hypothetical times, not a timetable for any location. Under the preferred juristic precision, the qualifying intention must occur before—not at—the midpoint.

17. Intention is an inward resolve

Intention fundamentally means the heart’s resolve to fast. Knowing and deciding during the night that one will observe the next Ramadan fast suffices without a mandatory verbal Arabic formula.

The real legal questions are: which fast is being intended, and when did the intention occur? A pronounced formula without a relevant inward determination is not a substitute.

18. What preparing for suhur indicates

Eating suhur with the deliberate purpose of fasting tomorrow normally evidences intention. A distinct formal declaration is unnecessary.

Eating food at night, however, is not automatically an intention to fast. The evidence lies in the person’s actual purpose, not the mere occurrence of a meal.

19. Why the intended fast must be identified

If a person owes two missed Ramadan fasts and also a separate expiatory fast, an unspecified “some fast” cannot simply be relabelled afterwards to discharge an obligation.

For liability-based fasts, the intention must identify whether the day is qada or kaffarah. That identifying intention must have been made in the preceding night.

20. Scenario: intention during Ramadan night

Suppose someone resolves in the night of Ramadan to fast the following day and then sleeps. They do not recite any separate declaration at dawn.

The nighttime resolve counts as intention. Waking at dawn to repeat a formula is not a condition; the other fasting conditions, including abstention from true dawn, must still be satisfied.

21. Scenario: a morning intention in Ramadan

Someone forgot to intend the next Ramadan fast overnight, but has refrained from anything invalidating since true dawn. If they form the intention before the legal-day midpoint, the cited Hanafi rule permits it.

This dispensation relates to fixed-day fasting and the time restriction. It is not a general morning-intention rule for qada or kaffarah. Intending the night before is safer.

22. Scenario: deciding on qada in the morning

A person wakes on an ordinary day and decides for the first time, “I will use today to make up a Ramadan fast.” No intention for qada existed overnight.

The missed Ramadan duty is not discharged by the newly formed morning intention. Whether the day can be a voluntary fast depends on its separate conditions, but it is not counted as qada.

23. Scenario: two different vows

A valid vow specifying “next Thursday” fixes the date. A separate vow promising “one fast” without a date is an unspecified vow.

Quduri places the first with fixed-day obligations and the second with outstanding liabilities. The intention deadlines differ, assuming each vow has otherwise been validly made.

24. Scenario: later voluntary intention

Suppose someone made no decision the previous night, but abstained from invalidating actions since dawn. They later decide to observe a voluntary fast before the legal-day midpoint.

Under the stated conditions the fast may be valid as voluntary. It cannot be redesignated as a missed Ramadan or expiatory fast, each of which requires an overnight intention.

25. What if one has already eaten after dawn?

Eating after true dawn prevents a normal fast from being retroactively created by a later intention. Permission to form intention in the morning is not permission to eat and then count the preceding hours as fasting.

Always read the later-intention dispensation with the requirement that the person has abstained since dawn. Exceptional cases and remedial duties belong to later fasting lessons.

26. Comparison of four fasting cases

1. Ramadan performed on its assigned day: nighttime intention works; qualified later intention is permitted.
2. Specified vow: grouped with fixed-day obligations for this rule.
3. Qada of Ramadan, unspecified vow, and kaffarah: specific overnight intention is necessary.
4. Voluntary fast: qualified daytime intention is possible before the legal midpoint.

The most reliable practice is to make a clear intention the previous night.

27. Reading key juristic terms

The text contrasts two categories (ḍarbān), a fixed time (zamān bi-ʿaynihi), an obligation owed in liability (yathbutu fī al-dhimmah), a specified vow, an unspecified vow, make-up fasting, and expiation.

The literal term zawal appears in the base text; the technical later Hanafi preference for the legal-day midpoint should be kept distinct from it.

28. Why the deadline differs

The rule depends on two independent questions: is the fast already assigned to a date, and is the intended duty identifiable? The date helps determine Ramadan and a specified vow. An unspecified outstanding duty has no such automatic marker.

Hence a valid intention for an outstanding obligation must identify the fasting duty, and the earlier timing requirement applies.

29. Integrated recap

The source divides fasting into obligatory and voluntary. It then divides obligatory fasts into assigned-time duties and duties outstanding in one’s liability. The first group includes Ramadan and a specified vow; the second includes Ramadan make-ups, unspecified vows, and expiations.

The first group and nafl permit a qualified daytime intention; the second requires a specified intention the previous night. Later Hanafi works narrow the practical timing to before the legal-day midpoint. The next lesson examines the Ramadan crescent.