Fasting in the Hanafi School

Al-Marghinani's treatment of fasting in Al-Hidayah presents the Hanafi school's distinctive positions within the framework of broadly shared Islamic fasting law. The Hanafi school shares the foundational rules of Ramadan fasting with the other schools but differs in several notable respects that reflect its characteristic methodology and its distinct hadith interpretations.

The Ramadan fast is obligatory on every sane, adult Muslim who is resident and physically capable. The Hanafi school holds that the intention for Ramadan fasting may be made at any point before midday — not strictly before Fajr as the Shafi'i and Hanbali schools require. Al-Marghinani justifies this on the grounds that the intent to fast is maintained throughout the night for a Muslim who woke up not having eaten, and the midday threshold represents half the day, before which the act of fasting is still meaningfully intentional. For voluntary fasts, the intention may also be made before midday. However, the Hanafi school agrees that the ideal is to make the intention the night before.

On what breaks the fast, the Hanafi school is notably more expansive than some other schools in identifying nullifiers. Any substance entering the stomach through the mouth, nose, or other natural openings breaks the fast in the Hanafi view, with the exception of substances that are not nourishing and not medicine. However, the Hanafi school's distinctive position is that deliberate vomiting does not break the fast regardless of quantity — only vomiting that returns involuntarily to the stomach constitutes a nullifier. This contrasts with the Shafi'i, Maliki, and Hanbali positions that hold deliberate vomiting of a mouthful or more to break the fast.

The kaffarah (expiation) for deliberately breaking the Ramadan fast through sexual intercourse is: freeing a slave, then fasting sixty consecutive days, then feeding sixty poor people, in a fixed hierarchy. The Hanafi school is the only school to explicitly hold that this kaffarah applies to any deliberate violation of the fast — not only sexual intercourse but also deliberate eating and drinking — based on the narration that the Prophet prescribed kaffarah for the man who had intercourse during Ramadan without specifying that it was limited to that act alone. The other schools restrict kaffarah to sexual intercourse.

For concessions (rukhsah), the Hanafi school permits the sick and the traveler to break the fast, with the sick person having the option — not the obligation — to fast if they are able. The Hanafi school holds that the traveler's permission to break the fast is not conditioned on hardship; the mere fact of travel is sufficient. Pregnant and nursing women who fear harm may break the fast and make up the days, with fidyah (feeding one poor person per day) required as well if the fear was for the child.

Voluntary fasting in the Hanafi school follows the broadly shared Islamic calendar of meritorious fasting days: Mondays and Thursdays, the middle days of each month, the day of Arafah for non-pilgrims, and the ninth and tenth of Muharram. The Hanafi school emphasizes fasting both the ninth and tenth of Muharram (rather than the tenth alone) to distinguish Muslim practice from that of other communities who also fast on the tenth.

Al-Marghinani's fasting chapter exemplifies the Hanafi school's careful engagement with the full range of practical questions that arise in observing the fast — from the traveler who returns home mid-day to the question of whether brushing teeth with a wet toothbrush invalidates the fast.