When Are Children Required to Fast during Ramadan?
Answered by Shaykh Anas al-Musa
Question
Who is required to fast during Ramadan, and when are children, both boys and girls, instructed to fast?
Answer
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful,
All praise is due to Allah, Lord of all worlds, and peace and blessings be upon the Messenger sent as a mercy to the worlds, our Master and Prophet, Muhammad, and his Family and Companions.
Muslims unanimously agree that fasting Ramadan is an absolutely obligatory pillar, known necessarily from the religion of Islam. Whoever denies its obligation has committed disbelief.
Allah (Most High) says: “O believers! Fasting is prescribed for you—as it was for those before you—so perhaps you will become mindful (of Allah).” [Quran, 2:183]
He (Most High) also says: “Ramadan is the month in which the Quran was revealed as a guide for humanity with clear proofs of guidance and the decisive authority. So whoever is present this month, let them fast. But whoever is ill or on a journey, then (let them fast) an equal number of days (after Ramadan).” [Quran, 2:185]
Ibn ‘Umar (Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and give him peace) said: “Islam is built upon five (pillars): Testifying that there is no deity except Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, establishing prayer, giving zakat, making the pilgrimage to the House, and fasting Ramadan.” [Bukhari; Muslim]
Who Is Obligated to Fast during Ramadan?
There are conditions for the obligation and performance of fasting:
As for the conditions of obligation:
- Being Muslim—a general condition for the applicability of Sacred Law.
- Sanity, as there is no benefit in addressing the insane, hence fasting is not obligatory for them.
- Puberty, as there is no obligation without it. Fasting is not obligatory for a child, whether discerning or not, whether they have reached the age of ten or not; this is because all legal obligations are not required until puberty. ‘Aisha (Allah be pleased with her) narrated that the Prophet said: “The pen has been lifted from three: a sleeper until he awakens, a child until he grows up, and an insane person until he regains understanding or consciousness.” [Ibn Jarud; Ibn Hibban; Hakim]
Jurists have stated that children are instructed to fast at seven if they are capable of getting used to it, like prayer, although fasting is harder, their capability is considered because someone might be able to perform prayer but not able to fast.
In “Mughni al-Muhtaj,” it is said: “(And the discerning child is instructed to fast) from the age of seven if capable.” [Shirbini, Mughni al-Muhtaj]
This applies to both boys and girls.
As for the conditions for the obligation of performance:
- Health and freedom from illness, as Allah says: “But whoever is ill or on a journey, then (let them fast) an equal number of days (after Ramadan).” [Quran, 2:185]
- Being residents, from the same above verse, the obligation of fasting is waived for the sick and the traveler, and they must make up for missed days if they break their fast, unanimously agreed, and their fast is valid if they fast.
- Women must be free from menstruation and postpartum bleeding, as a menstruating woman or a woman in postpartum bleeding is not fit to fast.
Mu‘adha said: I asked ‘Aisha, “Why does a menstruating woman have to make up the fasts but not the prayers?” She replied, “Are you a Haruriyya?” I said, “I am not a Haruriyya, but I am asking.” Aisha said: “We passed through this (period of menstruation), and we were commanded to make up the fasts, but not the prayers.” [Bukhari; Muslim]
These are the general conditions for the obligation and performance of fasting. [al-Fiqh al-Manhaji ‘ala Madhhab Imam al-Shafi‘i]
We ask Allah to accept our fasting and our prayers, for He is the All-Hearing, the All-Responsive.
[Shaykh] Anas al-Musa
Shaykh Anas al-Musa, born in Hama, Syria, in 1974, is an erudite scholar of notable repute. He graduated from the Engineering Institute in Damascus, where he specialized in General Construction, and Al-Azhar University, Faculty of Usul al-Din, where he specialized in Hadith.
He studied under prominent scholars in Damascus, including Shaykh Abdul Rahman al-Shaghouri and Shaykh Adib al-Kallas, among others. Shaykh Anas has memorized the Quran and is proficient in the ten Mutawatir recitations, having studied under Shaykh Bakri al-Tarabishi and Shaykh Mowfaq ‘Ayun. He also graduated from the Iraqi Hadith School.
He has taught numerous Islamic subjects at Shari‘a institutes in Syria and Turkey. Shaykh Anas has served as an Imam and preacher for over 15 years and is a teacher of the Quran in its various readings and narrations.
Currently, he works as a teacher at SeekersGuidance and is responsible for academic guidance there. He has completed his Master’s degree in Hadith and is now pursuing his Ph.D. in the same field. Shaykh Anas al-Musa is married and resides in Istanbul.
