Pretending to break the fast

27/07/2010| IslamWeb

Question 

A fasting person wanted to joke with his friends; hence, he brought a cup of water and pretended that he was drinking to make them believe that he was not fasting. A drop of water, however, fell on his lip. He is unsure, and he has reasonable doubts. What is the Sharee'ah ruling on this?

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.

The one who puts water on his lips, rinses his mouth or does some similar act and doubts whether or not he swallows water, and is not certain, his fasting is valid and he is not required to make up for the day, because the basic premise is that water did not reach his throat and mere doubts do not change this premise.

The Muslim should not joke in this way and pretend before others that he is not fasting in Ramadan. This implies disrespect for the sanctity of fasting, and exposes one to corruption, and causes people to think ill of him.

The Muslim is required under the Sharee‘ah to safeguard his honor and reputation and not to defame himself. Scholars have stated that the Muslim should avoid what brings doubts about him to protect people's hearts and tongues against ill thoughts and backbiting. If people disobey Allah by mentioning this person and he is the cause of this, then he will have his share of the guilt of the sin. This was stated by Al-Ghazaali in his "Al-Ihyaa"’.  

When that person pretends that he is not fasting, this indicates that he does not care about others and has no shyness in front of them, but it is known that bashfulness is a branch of faith. It was narrated that Anas ibn Maalik, may Allah be pleased with him, once went out to perform the Friday prayer but saw that people had ended the prayer and returned. Hence, he felt bashful and entered into a place where people could not see him and said, “The one who is not bashful of people is not bashful of Allah.” [Ibn Abi Shaybah]

And Allah Knows best.