Should I Fast if I Am Always Travelling?

Answered by Shaykh Irshaad Sedick

Question 

I’m a truck driver. I go 8000km both ways, come back home in 5-6 days, stay two days, and return. I leave around 8 am (after Fajr) for the trip. Would you please advise what the ruling about fasting in Ramadan during this constant travel year-round is?

Answer

In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate. 

May Allah alleviate our difficulties and guide us to that which is pleasing to Him.  

Fasting While Traveling

It is permissible not to fast when traveling, even when the intention to fast has been made the night before, provided that the journey is at least 81 km./50 mi one way and that one leaves town before dawn. If one leaves after dawn, one is not entitled to omit the fast (on that day). [Misri, ʿUmda Al-Salik]

Since your departure is after Fajr, you have to fast on the day of your departure, but you have the option to not fast for the rest of the trip.

To Fast or Not to Fast?

It is preferable for travelers not to fast if fasting would harm them, though if it would not harm them, then fasting is better, and Allah knows best. [ibid.]

I pray this is of benefit and that Allah guides us all.

[Shaykh] Irshaad Sedick

Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

Shaykh Irshaad Sedick was raised in South Africa in a traditional Muslim family. He graduated from Dar al-Ulum al-Arabiyyah al-Islamiyyah in Strand, Western Cape, under the guidance of the late world-renowned scholar, Shaykh Taha Karaan. 

Shaykh Irshaad received Ijaza from many luminaries of the Islamic world, including Shaykh Taha Karaan, Mawlana Yusuf Karaan, and Mawlana Abdul Hafeez Makki, among others.

He is the author of the text “The Musnad of Ahmad ibn Hanbal: A Hujjah or not?” He has served as the Director of the Discover Islam Centre and Al Jeem Foundation. For the last five years till present, he has served as the Khatib of Masjid Ar-Rashideen, Mowbray, Cape Town.

Shaykh Irshaad has thirteen years of teaching experience at some of the leading Islamic institutes in Cape Town). He is currently building an Islamic online learning and media platform called ‘Isnad Academy’ and pursuing his Master’s degree in the study of Islam at the University of Johannesburg. He has a keen interest in healthy living and fitness.