Question (Q-01):
My younger sister is a nurse and had been allocated to work on the Covid-19 ward for the next 3 months. She is asking whether it is permissible to defer fasting in Ramadhan when she works and to keep them later in the year? She will be working 12 hour shifts and with all the PPE equipment on the ward she is worried, and wanted to know if it is permissible to make up the fasts she misses later in the year? She is planning on fasting on the days she’s not working but with everything going on she doesn’t think that will be many.
Answer:
In the Name of the Almighty
Fasting is necessary upon every Muslim male and female, sane and adult. It is not permissible to forsake the fast unless the Shari’ah permits. In this situation the sister should consider how fasting will affect her whilst working in the conditions described and she should try her utmost to alter shift timings that could alleviate any such effect e.g working during the night instead of during the day. If this cannot be done and she has to work whilst fasting, and fasting in such a situation would lead to illness then she should perform Qadha of the fasts she misses due to this fear.
It is stated in Al Fatawa Al Hindiyyah;
ثُمَّ مَعْرِفَةُ ذَلِكَ بِاجْتِهَادِ الْمَرِيضِ وَالِاجْتِهَادُ غَيْرُ مُجَرَّدِ الْوَهْمِ بَلْ هُوَ غَلَبَةُ ظَنٍّ عَنْ أَمَارَةٍ أَوْ تَجْرِبَةٍ أَوْ بِإِخْبَارِ طَبِيبٍ مُسْلِمٍ غَيْرِ ظَاهِرِ الْفِسْقِ كَذَا فِي فَتْحِ الْقَدِيرِ. وَالصَّحِيحُ الَّذِي يَخْشَى أَنْ يَمْرَضَ بِالصَّوْمِ فَهُوَ كَالْمَرِيضِ هَكَذَا فِي التَّبْيِينِ
The meaning of the text from Al Fatawa Al Hindiyyah is that the fear of illness developing or increasing is ascertained by the ill person’s rationale which is not mere whim but rather based on overwhelming thought which is attained through signs, experience or through the informing of a Muslim doctor who is not apparently a sinner. This is how it is in Fath ul Qadeer. The healthy person who fears that he will fall ill due to fasting is like the ill person. This is what is stated in At Tabyeen.
Therefore the sister should consider whether there are such circumstances in the situation at hand that mean that fasting would lead to illness and whether it is possible to make changes to shift patterns that would mean the fast does not hinder work and work does not affect her fast. If change of timings etc. is possible or fasting whilst working would not lead to illness then she should not forsake the fast and should recall the spiritual benefits of the fast, and how the Muslim Ummah has fasted for over fourteen centuries in difficult and within hot climates.
Allah knows best and His Knowledge is Most Complete.
Answered by: Shaykh Omar Khan
Approved by: Muftī Shamsulhudā Khān Misbāhī (Allah preserve him)
