MIT MSA and Harvard Islamic Society present a panel discussion on

"Fiqh of Personal Finance"

Imam Suheil Laher (MIT Muslim Chaplain) & Taha Abdul-Basser

Have you ever had questions like:

Are my earnings halal (permissible)? Is it OK to take out loans for med school? Are life insurance policies OK Islamically? What does riba (usury) mean?

If so, then this panel discussion is for YOU!

Thursday, April 30th @ 7:00 PM
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Room 4-231

Shaykh Suhaib Webb has posted a precious translation of `Allama Muhammad Taqi Usmani's contribution to an anthology of essays in appreciation of the famous Egyptian Muslim religious scholar, Shaykh Dr. Yusuf al-Qaradawi. As many will know, Mufti Muhammad Taqi Usmani is one of the world strongest and most respected fuqaha'.

Shaykh Suhaib Webb has posted audio and notes for the first of a series based on Imam al-Muhasibi's Risalat al-Mustarshidin. The text is a gem for any one concerned with internal purification.

Imam Zaid Shakir has translated and annotated the original text. It is available here.

Here is the transcript of a lecture, "The Incoherence of Claims of Incoherence: Some Remarks on Internal Consistency and Legitimacy in Contemporary Islamic Financial Ethics" that I recently gave at Wharton (U Penn), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on March 15, 2009.

A must read Newsweek article on a military guard at the US Guantanamo detention center who reverted to Islam at the center.

The text of a lecture that I delivered at Wesleyan University on February 16, 2009 entitled "The Road Ahead?: An Islamic Financial Ethicist's Observations on the Current Economic Crisis and Possible Recovery Strategies is available here as a PDF. May Allah reward Chaplain Ustadhah Marwa Aly and the Wesleyan MSA who invited me.

The following is the conclusion of the text of the speech:

To conclude, the Islamic ethicist would call for deep structural changes to the prevailing financial system [namely]...1) the elimination of interest-based debt financing mechanisms in favor of asset-based financing mechanisms and 2)the elimination of risk-shifting risk management tools in favor their risk-sharing, tangible asset-based counterparts. This evolutionary path, while it may seem radical and strange to some, is, in fact, not. Rather such changes, to a large extent, are consistent with what several economists and finance academics have already been calling for and are likely to continue to call for in the...future.

I look forward to your questions. Thank you.

The Guardian (UK) is reports that Amnesty is suggesting a US arms embargo against Israel in its recent report on the alleged war crimes that occured during Israel's raids on Gaza last month.

According to a letter circulating by Imam Johari Abdul-Malik, Imam Siraj Wahhaj is out of the hospital and doing well, al-hamdu li-llah. May Allah preserve him, reward him for all his efforts and continue to benefit us by him!

Follow up (4/3/2009): There is an effort to raise funds for Imam Siraj Wahhaj's treatment. He has been diagnosed with a highly treatable form of cancer.) I encourage people to donate. (

A statement from our teacher, Imam Mohammed Hamagid Ali, in the wake of the murder of Aasiya Hassan (inna li-llahi wa-inna ilayhi raji`un ["To God do we belong and to Him do we Return"]).

The letter reads:

The Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) is saddened and shocked by the news of the loss of one of our respected sisters, Aasiya Hassan whose life was taken violently. To God we belong and to Him we return (Qur’an 2:156). We pray that she find peace in God’s infinite Mercy, and our prayers and sympathies are with sister Aasiya’s family. Our prayers are also with the Muslim community of Buffalo who have been devastated by the loss of their beloved sister and the shocking nature of this incident.

This is a wake up call to all of us, that violence against women is real and can not be ignored. It must be addressed collectively by every member of our community. Several times each day in America, a woman is abused or assaulted. Domestic violence is a behavior that knows no boundaries of religion, race, ethnicity, or social status. Domestic violence occurs in every community. The Muslim community is not exempt from this issue. We, the Muslim community, need to take a strong stand against domestic violence. Unfortunately, some of us ignore such problems in our community, wanting to think that it does not occur among Muslims or we downgrade its seriousness.More...

While President Obama's recent alArabiya interview (see transcript) has left some even more enthusiastic about the prospect of a substantive change in US policy toward the Muslim world, in a recent essay, M. Junaid Levesque-Alam tackles the dissonance between President Obama's rhetoric and the actions of the US government immediately prior to and following his inauguration. While there is a sentence or two in the essay that goes too far (e.g. "Pity that it was not the Palestinians experiencing this apparent upswing...", which is, from an Islamic point of view, indefensible), Levesque-Alam's main contention is difficult to rebutt.

Here is an insightful post from Imam Zaid Shakir on some of the psycho-spiritual dimensions of an ideal Muslim response to the most recent Israeli raids on Ghaza.

Another article by Shaykh Zaid on the application of Islamic ethico-legal principles to modern warfare.

An interesting editorial piece on the "Arab Money" remix, a rap song by hip-hop artists Busta Rhymes, T-Payne, Akon and others in which the first two ayat (verses) of the the opening sura (chapter) of the Qur'an are used as the hook (chorus) of the song.

"It's time that Muslim activists come together with a plan to do some serious outreach to Muslim rappers, who are part of the mainstream music industry but detached from the mainstream Muslim community. The recent Busta Rhymes' “Arab Money” remix that caused a brief uproar for not only using the term ”A-rab” as in the original version but also interpolating verses of the Qur'an in it is a prime example of how brothers and sisters “in da game” need to be pulled in." Read more...

Hailing from and having grown up in NYC, having witnessed the birth of hip-hop and key milestones in its history, knowing something about the interplay between hip-hop culture and Islam in NYC in the 90s, I believe that a very firm stance is required from the African-American Muslim community, in particular, on this issue and on the many harmful aspects hip-hop culture, "urban" culture and Blackamerican popular culture in general. I may be addressing these issues in greater detail in a few weeks. Stay tuned :)

Given the appropriately intense scrutiny that conventional derivatives are under, in general, and the profound policy implications of increased adoption of derivative-like instruments by the shari`a-compliant financial services sector, I read with interest a recent media interview with Mr. Werner, Policy Director at the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA), in which he mentioned that ISDA's collaboration with the International Islamic Financial Market (IIFM) has produced a draft master agreement for Shariah compliant derivatives. The draft master agreement will reportedly be undergoing final Shari`a compliance review soon. As a student of some of the leading Islamic ethicists (fuqaha') who make up the IIFM's compliance review board, I am particularly interested in the board's decision on the validity of the structure that will apparently be used to implement the proposed profit swap, since it is not a matter of agreement among Islamic ethicists (fuqaha').

In the wake of the election, here is a brief post-election analysis by Ibrahim Abdil-Mu'id Ramey (Freedom Civil and Human Rights Director, Muslim American Society) that features some (if to my mind, not nearly enough) of the realism that should characterize American Muslims' response the President-Elect Obama's election. Here is an excerpt:

In the 2008 election campaign, it is clear that the convergence of shared interests within the Muslim community gave birth to larger, progressive collaborations with other political forces to help move the nation beyond the legacy of the Bush administration.

Yet more sobering realities remain.

While the Muslim community voted in large numbers, our impact on a possible shift in American foreign policy in the Middle East leaves something to be desired.

It is no secret that the policy statements from both President-Elect Obama concerning Israel and Palestine – especially Obama's recognition of Jerusalem as the de facto capital of Israel – reinforces the status quo of American regional foreign policy at the expense of a more even-handed and democratic discourse that recognizes not only Israeli security rights, but Palestinian national and human rights as well.

In the course of his marvelous campaign President-Elect Obama made a concerted effort to directly reassure Jewish voters of his sensitivity to their concerns; in comparison, however, Muslims received no such consideration.

There is also the question of challenges to the legitimacy of the American Muslim identity itself.

We remember that Obama campaign staff members removed Muslim women in hijab from a photograph with the candidate – an action that subsequently resulted in a public apology. However, the incident signaled to the Muslim community a "don't-get-too-close-to-Muslims" policy that may carry over into the Obama administration as positions of power are assigned.

Added to these concerns is the ambivalence shown by the Obama campaign on the issue of war in Iraq and Afghanistan.

President-Elect Obama's endorsement of American military strikes inside Pakistan raises enormous anxiety and concern for Muslim advocates who seek to demilitarize our foreign policy and create non-violent approaches to building new and better relationships with Iran, Pakistan, Iraq, Somalia, and other majority-Muslim states on the current American military target list.

The inimitable Imam Zaid Shakir has written another insightful piece on his blog about Muslims' political and strategic posture in this post-election period.

According to various eyewitness reports, CDs containing the viciously anti-Islamic propaganda film, "Obsession," were recently being distributed in Harvard Square. This fact has apparently not gone unnoticed by Harvard College students: the distribution of the CDs outside the gates of the University has been mentioned unfavorably by members of one of the Quad Houses on the House's e-mail list. While much could be said about the links between one of the major presidential candiates and the shadowy organization that is massively financing the distribution of "Obsession" CDs by mail, in newspapers and on the streets of the so-called "swing" states, I restrict myself to here to calling attention to an insightful essay that points out just some of the fallacies that the film seeks to promote.

In a recent entry on his blog, New Islamic Direction, the inimitable Imam Zaid Shakir reveals some of historical and political inanities to be found in this Islamophobic piece of propaganda. I reproduce the entire essay here in recognition of its relevance and importance:

Recently, 28 million copies of the anti-Islamic propaganda documentary, Obsession, were distributed free of charge in what are being considered the “swing” states in the current election campaign. This effort is clearly designed to leverage the idea in the minds of many Americans that Senator Barack Obama is a Muslim (he is not), and therefore, he is to be identified with the images and statements of Muslims portrayed in the video. These portrayals give the impression that Islam is a fanatical, bloodthirsty religion, whose adherents are hell-bent on destroying America. In essence, the video represents a diabolical attempt by dark forces to sway an American election.

The film is black propaganda that relies in some instances on distorting the truth and in others on blatant lies or vile innuendos. One of the allegations advanced by the film that is particularly insidious is that Islam is the new fascism, a deadly force that constitutes an existentialist threat to the United States. To support this allegation, the film’s producers juxtapose scenes of Nazi marches and other forms of political imagery with corresponding Muslim images. I have briefly discussed the issue of the Islamo-Fascist threat in my article, Vote for Me and I’ll Set You Free. There I mentioned:

In recent days, surrogates of one of my opponents have been distributing, free of charge, a disturbing DVD entitled “Obsession.” This film attempts to portray the maniacal rants of a minuscule fringe of deluded Muslim fanatics as an existentialist threat to the United States that must be combated by the full might of the United States’ military and society. It tries to deceive you into believing that “Radical Islam” and “Islamo-Fascism” is the 21st Century equivalent of Hitler’s Germany. Both history and contemporary reality belie that claim. Nazi Germany was an industrialized state that had military means that rivaled or surpassed those of America. Had circumstances proved more favorable for the Germans, they could have well developed an atomic bomb before America. Similarly, under more fortuitous circumstances, Germany’s ballistic missile program, which produced the deadly V2 Rocket, and its fighter aircraft program, which introduced the Messerschmitt 262, the world’s first tactic jet fighter, could have given Germany a tactical advantage that could have turned the tide of the war in Hitler’s favor.

As a result of their combined military strength, combating the fascist threat of Hitler’s Germany, Mussolini’s Italy, and Hirohito’s Japan would require the military service of 16.1 million American troops and cost 406,000 American lives. What has been the cost of containing the so-called “Islamo-Fascist” threat? First of all, there is only one real front in the so-called “War on Terror,” Afghanistan. There, the remnants of Al-Qaeda and the Taliban, the latter of which has not been implicated in a single terrorist act against the United States, have been held in check by 34,000 American troops currently on the ground, at a cost of 519 American lives, even though the conflict there has endured longer than World War Two. The number of troops committed, and the number of lives sacrificed gives you a clear indication of the true extent of the nature of the threat posed by Radical Islam.

The shameless allegation that Islam is the new fascism would be bad enough were it presented in isolation. However, it is coupled with the false claim that Muslims supported Hitler and the Nazis during World War Two. This claim is a foul misrepresentation of the historical record and it serves to dishonor the memory of all of the courageous Muslims who selflessly fought and died in defense of the European democracies, even though many of their own lands were still suffering under the yoke of European colonization.

At the heart of this baseless and base allegation is the fact that the Palestinian Mufti of Jerusalem, Al-Hajj Amin al-Husseini, had close ties to the German leader Adolf Hitler, and even spent part of the war in Berlin. While this much is true, al-Husseini’s sentiments were not those of the overwhelming majority of the Palestinians, to say nothing of the rest of the world’s Muslims. To use al-Husseini’s ties to Hitler as a means to defame and discredit Islam and Muslims as fascists is misleading and has to be challenged.

In fact, there were several Palestinian brigades in the British Army who actively fought the spread of fascism. The existence of these Palestinian brigades was more indicative of the mood of the Arab and Muslim masses, than al-Husseini’s misguided actions. Therefore, when al-Husseini issued his call for a Muslim “Jihad” against the allied forces his plea was largely ignored. The fascist “Jihad” never materialized. The reason for that is simple. It had no significant support from the masses of Muslims.

The Palestinian Muslims were not alone in terms of their participation in the anti-fascist effort. Hundreds of thousands of North and West African Muslims assisted in the liberation of France from the German occupation and the French Vichy government. Upwards to half of the free French forces that landed in southern France in 1944 were Africans, the overwhelming majority of them Muslims. Among their ranks is a group referred to as Senegal’s Secret Soldiers, a group of Senegalese Muslims who played a major role in the liberation of Paris from Nazi occupation.

One of this country’s staunchest Muslim allies in the struggle against the fascist menace was the Moroccan king, Muhammad V. He not only worked strenuously to insure that Moroccans supported neither the French Vichy government nor the Nazi effort in North Africa, but he also courageously supported Moroccan Jews during the war years.

Farther east, hundreds of thousands of Muslims enrolled in the British Indian Army. On January 1, 1945, there were 447,580 Punjabi Muslims in the British Indian Army. This number constituted 32% of the army’s troop strength, a percentage tremendously greater than the percentage of Muslims in the overall population. These Muslim soldiers were deployed in all of the major theaters of battle in the fight against the Axis powers and performed admirably. They were firmly supported by the political leader of the Muslims in India, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, a fervent critic of Hitler.

The claim of widespread Muslim support for Hitler is further belied by the fact that Turkey, at that time the strongest independent Muslim nation, maintained strict neutrality for most of the war. When the Turks did enter the war they did so on the side of the Alliance. The Turks broke all diplomatic and economic relations with the Germans in August of 1944, and declared war against Germany, February 25, 1945. These moves were instrumental in the defeat of fascism. Besides the political importance of Turkey’s declaration of war against the Axis forces, her entrance into the war on the side of the Alliance deprived Germany of one of its major supplies of chromite, an essential element in her steel production.

Perhaps the greatest testimony to the Muslims who actively opposed fascism is the work of the Paris Mosque in protecting Jewish children from the Nazis, who were sending French Jews: men, women, and children to perish in the death camps of Eastern Europe. The mosque itself was built by the French government in appreciation of the 500,000 Muslims who had fought for France during World War One, with 100,000 losing their lives in the trenches. It is estimated that the mosque helped to save over 1,700 Jewish children, by providing them with shelter, transit, and Muslim names. Below is a copy of a pamphlet that circulated among Algerian Muslims in Paris at the onset of the Nazis’ campaign against the Jews in France:

Yesterday at dawn, the Jews of Paris were arrested. The old, the women, and the children. In exile like ourselves, workers like ourselves. They are our brothers. Their children are like our own children. The one who encounters one of his children must give that child shelter and protection for as long as misfortune - or sorrow - lasts. Oh, man of my country, your heart is generous.

It is a great shame that sinister propaganda like Obsession is allowed to be disseminated in this country. Similarly vile hatemongering would never be allowed were it directed at Jews, African Americans, gays or other segments of the American population. It is a greater shame that supposedly reputable newspapers such as The New York Times have participated openly and actively in that campaign. However, the greatest shame is for us Muslims to sit back and do nothing. We have to fight back with the truth. We have to organize to disseminate the truth, and to inform the citizens of this land of who we are as Muslims, the truth about our religion, and our history. Most importantly, we cannot allow the honor and dignity of our innocent coreligionists, whose sacrifices have enriched humanity, to be trampled on and violated by individuals who have placed themselves in the service of a sinister and nefarious agenda

Q. What is the relationship between belief in tawhid [editor: i.e. the recognition of the Oneness of God] and morality? I am asking with the intention of [asking a] follow-up: For those individuals who were born into a polytheistic faith but who are morally and ethically very upright, what does the Qu'ran say of their judgment? I know that associating partners with Allah (SWT) is one of the biggest sins, but I am having trouble grasping why someone who lives honestly, sincerely, generously, etc. should be so severely punished. Are we not judged on the basis of our actions?

A: Recognizing and affirming the Oneness of Allah, i.e. tawhid, is the epistemoloical and ontological basis of morality in our religion (din). Professing that there is no god but God (la ilaha illa llah) implies that one affirms that no one decides that an act is right or wrong but Allah and that none decides the relative degree of rightness or wrongness of an act but Allah.

So, if a person is raised as a polytheist (mushrik) and dies as such, we affirm that they will not be treated unjustly by Allah in the afterlife. Qur'an: "Nor is Allah unjust to His slaves".

Note: One should strive to achieve certainty (yaqin) on this point, since it is a basic element of our belief (iman) and doubt about this matter is akin to thinking badly of Allah which is an enormity (i.e. a major sin), at the very least.

Specifically, there are several possibilities:

Case 1: If a polytheist (mushrik) is presented with Islam during his life and accepts it, he becomes Muslim, thereby and, assuming that he dies on Islam, will enter the Garden.

Case 2: If he refuses Islam after it is offered to him, he is a disbeliever (kafir). If he dies in that state, he is promised an eternity in the Fire and forbidden entry into the Garden, as indicated by numerous univocal, clear passages (ayat) of the Qur'an and mass-transmitted prophetic traditions (ahadith). Again, Allah will not have wronged them or treated them unjustly in the least.

Case 3: If the prophetic invitation to worship the One God never reached him (e.g. he lived during the period between two prophets or he was never informed that there was a Prophet named Muhammad that invited people to surrender to God by recognizing that there is no god but Him) and he dies in this state, then some of the religious scholars (`ulama) affirm that he is not punished in the afterlife because Allah does not punish without sending a Messenger. Qur'an: "We do not punish until we send Messenger". Others of the `ulama hold that he may be punished as a disbeliever polytheist because the natural inclination towards recognition of the One God (fitra) that Allah has created in human beings is evidence enough against him. Allah knows best. Whatever the case, we affirm that Allah will not have treated them unjustly in the least.

N.B.: As Muslims, we should avoid giving preference to our own ethical intuitions (i.e. suppositions and whims as to what should be right and wrong or how relatively right or wrong some acts should be compared to others) over Allah's statements. It is simply not for a reasonable person--not to mention a Muslim--to say to himself, "Well, a person who behaves in a manner that seems good or moral to me, but just happens to do what the Creator of the Heavens and Earth has said is the worse act that can be done (i.e. associating partners with God), should be judged acceptable by God and not punished." Islam, i.e. Surrendering to God means, among other things, recognizing him as the Judge (al-Hakam). We are judged on the basis of (more precisely, the intention behind) our actions. In our ethical system, the basis of actions that is associated with salvation in the afterlife is belief (iman) in God and the Last Day.

N.B.: As for describing a person who does not recognize God as God as living honestly or sincerely, clearly people who are not yet believers can have good personality traits and do acts that are apparently good. Not only do we not deny this but we affirm it since Allah affirms it in the Qur'an. But going the next step and suggesting that apparently good deeds, without belief (iman), must be acceptable to God (whereas Allah stresses good deeds and belief in the Qur'an), because these criteria are consistent with our own ethical intuition, is logical inconsistent with tawhid and runs contrary to revelation.

May Allah guide us to the best in this world and the next.

The Needy Slave of Allah,
Taha bin Hasan Abdul-Basser

Blessed Feast of the Fast-Breaking (`Id Mubarak)! May Allah accept from us all!

Now that the blessed month of Ramadan is over, our study group (majlis) should be starting up again! May Allah bless our efforts and grants us beneficial knowledge and accepted actions.

A precious site with lists and actual downloadable reproductions of hard-to-find printings of Arabo-Islamic texts that were first printed nearly 100 years ago...

The following are some notes that a sister, Maria Khan, wrote up on the Pre-Ramadan workshop I have been doing at Harvard for the last 5 years or so. Last year, Shaykh Suheil Laher and I did a combined session for the Harvard Islamic Society and MIT MSA. May Allah reward the sister and benefit people with it.
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Notes on the Harvard Ramadan Intensive
Maria Khan
Fall 2007

Instructors: Shaykh Suheil Laher (MIT Muslim Chaplin) and Ustādh Taha Abdul-Basser (Harvard Islamic Society Muslim Chaplin)
Where: Harvard Islamic Society Prayer Space, Harvard Yard
When: September 2007

Introduction

Ramadan is one of the practices upon which Islam is built. It is obligatory (wājib) for all ethically responsible (mukallaf) Muslims to seek and obtain a basic understanding of the key formal aspects of the Ramadan fast, so that they can perform a valid Ramadan fast and achieve the spiritual benefit associated with fasting the month. True spirituality is associated with belief and practice; it is only through sound belief and acceptable practice that one can heighten one’s spiritual attainment; hence the need for a solid understanding of the formal aspects of Ramadan fast.

Imam Abū Ḥāmid al-Ghazali’s (d. 505/1111) spoke of three levels of fasting: 1) Common level fasting: which is to abstain from food, drink and sexual intercourse; 2) elite level fasting: which is to abstain from food, drink and sexual intercourse and to abstain from sinning with tongue, heart and the other faculties and limbs and 3) “elite of the elite” level fasting: which is to disengage one’s heart-mind (qalb) from all thoughts that do not bring one closer to Allah.

0. Repentance (Tawbah)
0.1 Three Components
0.1.1 Regret
0.1.2 Discontinuation of the sin
0.1.3 Resloution to never to do it again
0.1.4 Restitution, when the sin is against another person
1. Basic Terms
1.1 Ḥukm (plural aḥkām) is an ethico-legal value (e.g. obligatory, commendable, neutral, offensive and impermissible).
1.2 The Shar'ia (Islamic sacred ethics and law) is made up of aḥkam.
1.3 Fiqh is a deep understanding of ethico-legal values of human acts based on indicants (i.e. evidence) from the Qur'an and Prophetic Custom (Sunnah); Fiqh is knowledge of what is permissible (halāl) and impermissible (harām). Fiqh is “discovering” the ethico-legal values of the Sharī`a.
1.4 Sawm means “abstaining” in the Arabic language in general. In fiqh sawm = abstaining from food, drink, etc from true dawn to sunset as an act of devotion for Allah.
1.5 Fard 'ayn = personal obligation
1.5.1 As opposed to communal obligation (farḍ kifāya)
2. Fiqh of Fasting
2.1 Performing the Ramadan fast is a personal obligation (fard 'ayn) for each ethically responsible Muslim who does not have a shari`a-recognized exemption
2.1.1 A child who becomes mature during the day must abstain from those things that invalidate a fast for the rest of the day.
2.1.2 An insane person who gains sanity during the day must abstain from those things that invalidate a fast for the rest of the day.
2.1.3 A person who becomes Muslim during the day must abstain from those things that invalidate a fast. A convert need not make up the missed fast.
2.1.4 Exemptions
2.1.4.1 Sickness: If fasting will aggravate the sickness, or delay the healing, of a person, that person does not have to fast. They must make up the days later when they are in good health.
2.1.4.1.1 Strenuous physical exercise, like working out or heavy labor is discouraged, as it weakens the body.
2.1.4.2 Travel: Traveling on a journey of 48 miles or more. If one feels as though there is no hardship in one's travel then one may fast. One must fast until one is actually traveling. A traveler must make up the missed fast.
2.1.4.2.1 A traveler who has returned home and is not fasting should abstain from those things that invalidated a fast (in public and private) until sunset.
2.1.4.3 Pregnancy and Breastfeeding: Pregnant and nursing women are exempted from fasting if they fear for themselves or their children.
2.1.4.3.1 Hanafī school [madhhab (plural madhāhib)]: A pregnant or nursing woman can just make up the fasts.
2.1.4.3.2 Shāfi`i and Ḥanbalī schools: If the pregnant or nursing woman feared for her child's health (only) and not her own, then she must perform substitution (fidyah), i.e. feed a poor person every day for each day of fasting that she missed, in addition to making up the fasts.
2.1.4.4 Old Age: Very old people who are weak and will not regain their strength are exempt from fasting and must perform substitution (fidyah), i.e. feed a poor person for each day of fasting.
2.1.4.5 Menstruation: A woman who is menstruating is exempt from fasting and must make up the fasts she misses later.
2.1.4.5.1 A woman who is not fasting due to her menstrual cycle but who regains the ability to fast during the day must abstain (or should [Shāfi`i]) from those things that invalidate a fast.
2.2 Valid Fast
2.2.2 For a valid (ṣaḥīḥ) fast one must abstain from food, water and sexual intercourse from true dawn until sunset (maghrib).
2.2.2.1 Refraining from talking the entire day is prohibited.
2.2.3 Intention
2.2.3.1 One must make a separate intention (niyya) for each day of Ramadan that one is fasting. One makes the intention to fast during the night, before each day of fasting.
2.2.3.3 One is not required to vocalize the intention of fasting. One makes the intention one's heart.
2.2.4 Fasting Begins at True Dawn
2.2.4.1 Definition: If one observes the eastern horizon during the night (in optimal conditions which are not available in most cities) one sees two appearances of what could be called “the dawn.” The first dawn is “false dawn” (al-fajr al-kadhib); the second, which is more lateral in its spread is “true dawn” (al-fajr al-sadiq).
2.2.4.2 It is sunnah to stop eating a short while (10-15 min) before Fajr even though it is allowed to eat until the time.
2.2.4.2.1 In a hadith in Sahih Bukhari, Anas ibn Malik (the personal attendant of the Prophet (صلي الله عليه وسلم) asking Zayd ibn Thabit (one of the scribes of the Qur'an) how long the interval was between when the Prophet (صلي الله عليه وسلم) stopped eating and fajr. Zayd ibn Thabit's response was the amount of time that it took to recite fifty ayāt of the Qur'an.
2.2.4.2.2 Another lesson to be drawn from this hadith: The scribe of the Qur'an, Zayd ibn Thabit, was closer to the Prophet (صلي الله عليه وسلم), during Ramadan than was his personal attendant, Anas ibn Malik. So we should read, contemplate, and keep in our memory the Qur'an as much as possible in Ramadan as it is the month in which the Qur'an was revealed.
2.2.5 Fasting Ends at Sunset
2.1.5.1 Sunset is when the sun disappears below the horizon.
2.1.5.1.1 It is suggested to add 3 minutes to the calculated timings for sunset.
2.1.5.2 It is a Prophetic custom (sunna) to break the fast when the as soon as day has ended (i.e. as soon as the sun has set).
o It is impermissible to intentional refrain from eating during the night after a day of fast and then fast the next day.
2.3 Invalidating a Fast
2.3.1 There are three (3) ways to invalidate a fast indicated by the Qur'an
2.3.1.1 Eating
2.3.1.1.1 Eating something that is not normally eaten (e.g. pencils, dirt, pebbles) invalidates a fast.
2.3.1.2 Drinking
2.3.1.3 Engaging in sexual intercourse
2.3.1.3.1 Masturbation invalidates a fast.
2.3.1.3.2 A husband may kiss his wife as long as it does not lead to sexual intercourse or ejaculation. Note: Hanbalis and Maliki schools: Even the emission of pre-ejaculation fluid invalidates the fast (in case of kissing, masturbation or other physical contact). Hanbali and Maliki schools: Even pre-ejaculation fluid invalidates the fast (in case of kissing, masturbation or other foreplay physical contact).
2.3.2 Three ways to invalidate a fast indicated by aḥādith
2.3.2.1 Inducing vomiting
2.3.2.2 Inhaling something through the nose
2.3.2.3 Therapeutic blood-letting that weakens the patient
2.3.2.3.1 Note: according to the majority of scholars, invalidation by means of the third of these, i.e. therapeutic blood-letting, is abrogated.
2.3.3 Idle talk is discouraged.
2.3.4 Backbiting (ghība) reduces the value of one's fast.
2.4 Consequences of Invalidating the Fast
2.4.1 If one unknowingly invalidates one's fast by eating, drinking, engaging in sexual intercourse, etc.--i.e. if one breaks it out of genuine forgetfulness--then one’s fast is still valid. One need not make up that fast.But, it is obligatory to stop eating and drinking as soon one realize’s (i.e. remembers) and one must then continue fasting for the rest of the day (i.e. not eat, drink, etc. until sunset).
2.4.2 If one knowingly invalidates one's fast by engaging in sexual intercourse, then one must perform expiation (kaffārah), one must either:
2.4.2.1 Free a slave or
2.4.2.2 Fast for two months consecutively or
2.4.2.3 feed 60 poor people
2.4.3 If one knowingly invalidated one's fast by eating or drinking anything which provides nourishment or medical benefit, then the fast is invalidated without disagreement.
2.4.3.1 Hanafi school (but not the Shāfi`ī school): In addition, expiation (kaffārah) is required.
2.4.4 If one knowingly invalidates one's fast by any means other than those covered above (e.g. by eating sand or pebbles, or by masturbation) then the fast is invalidated, but expiation (kaffārah) is not required.

"And who is better in speech than one who invites towards Allah, does good and says, 'I am indeed one of the Muslims!'?"

Inna li-llah wa-inna ilayhi raji`un (To Allah we belong and to Him do we return). News reached yesterday of the death of Warith al-Din (W.D.) Mohammed. May Allah have mercy on him.