Fasting; marriage to pagan women; praying for male child

02/08/2009| IslamWeb

Question:

last Ramadan I was pregnant and I had high sugar, so I used to take insulin shoot 4 time a day, therefore I could not fast whole month but I paid money for each day, do I have to make those day even though I paid, right now I am feeding him so it is difficult, please tell what should I do?

 

 Second question, my brother in-law has a son with a Hindu woman, and I told my husband that this son does not belongs to him and he is not allow marrying her unless she accepted Islam, am I right and still he is living with that Hindu woman without marriage. And the son is living with the Hindu grandmother. What my husband duty toward his brother? Please tell us in details.

 

Third question is: When I was pregnant my in-law was always telling me that I should ask for boy, but I was against that because I thing this Jaheliya, I told them that I would prefer whatever Allah chose for me but a ask Allah a pious child, I don't care about the sex of the child, they said that the boy is the crown of the head and the girl is the burden of the head. I am very disturb about this kind of thinking. Please tell me am I right or they are right?

 

Fatwa:

 

All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger.  

 

If the reason for breaking the fast is due to diabetes then you are only required to make up the days you broke the fast whenever you are able to do so. Allah says (which means): {…but if any of you is ill or on a journey, the same number (should be made up) from other days…}[Quran 2:184]. It is not permissible for you to feed poor people instead of fasting as this is only allowed if the disease is chronic. If a trustworthy doctor decides that you are absolutely unable to fast because of diabetes for being a chronic disease from which you are not expected to be cured, then you can feed a poor person for every day you break the fast. If after that you recover from this disease, you will not be obliged to make up the days you did not fast, because you are already acquitted by feeding a poor person.

 

However, if you broke the fast just because of pregnancy or breastfeeding out of fear for your child, then you have to make up the days you broke the fast and expiate for each day by feeding a poor person. Nonetheless, if you are absolutely unable to fast, then you have to feed a poor person instead of fasting.

 

As regards whether you should feed a poor person instead of fasting and expiate for that as well by feeding another poor person, or that just one feeding is enough, then we did not come across any statement of the scholars is this regard. However, in order to be on the safe side, it is better to feed a poor person for every day you broke the fast and expiate for it as well.

 

In case you broke the fast because you feared about your health because of pregnancy, or because of breastfeeding, or because you feared about your health and your child's health, then you are only required to make up the days you broke the fast, and if you are unable to fast, you should feed a poor person.

 

With regard to your brother in-law residing with a marriageable woman without marriage, this is something forbidden. If sexual intercourse took place between them, this is purely fornication and the child should not be traced back to him but to his mother whether this woman is among the women whom we are allowed to marry (from people of the book), or a woman that we are not allowed to marry (like idolaters).

 

Your brother in-law should stay away from this woman as what he is doing is forbidden and this is well-established in Islam by absolute evidences and no one can deny it. It is not permissible for a Muslim man to marry a non-Muslim woman unless she is a chaste Christian or a chaste Jew.

 

So your brother and any Muslim who knows about your brother in-law, should advise him and prohibit him according to his ability from this disgraceful conduct.

 

As regards what you have mentioned about your husband's relatives asking you to supplicate to Allah to bless you with a boy and not a girl because a boy is the crown of the head and a girl is the burden of the head, this is wrong and something of the pre-Islamic era. However, if they only want you to ask Allah to bless you with a boy then there is no harm in this and there is no harm on you in doing so, but if Allah blesses you with a girl then you should not draw on yourself the Wrath of Allah as whatever Allah decrees, there is good in it.

Allah Knows best.

Fatwa answered by:The Fatwa Center at Islamweb