On this Blessed Day,in this Blessed Month, a month wherein all Divine
Scriptures of the  Abramhamic Faith were revealed  on different dates to
humanity at large,I hereby wish you all the very best in good
health,Iman,Taqwa,Ikhlas and long life in this life and Paradise in the
Hereafter by constantly seeking the pleasure of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala by
doing Charitable deeds to people in need and avoiding what He has
Condemned.Ameen.

The very best of Salam,

Brother Musa



 *Fasting, Illness and Old Age
*Q.My uncle has a chronic disease that requires him to take medication
several times a day without fail, in order to keep his condition under
control. I watched this man really stressed out last Ramadan because of
fasting. He is 66 years old, but he refuses to miss fasting. Should he
really fast in this condition?

*A.* Islam never requires its followers to undertake anything that causes
them too much trouble. Fasting is difficult for normal, healthy human
beings, even when they are in the prime of life. This is acknowledged in a
sacred, or qudsi, Hadith in which God promises rich reward for fasting. He
describes fasting as a man or woman "going without food, drink and pleasure
for My sake."

But God does not want us unduly stressed out in order to fast. Hence, He has
allowed us a number of concessions to cater to different conditions where
fasting becomes particularly or exceedingly difficult. He says: "Whoever is
ill or on a journey may fast a similar number of days." (2: 185) This
applies to any condition which people describe as illness or travel. It does
not require the illness to be too severe, or the travel to be too arduous.

Whatever is legitimately described as illness or travel counts as a good
reason for availing oneself of this concession. Hence, your uncle or anybody
in this situation may use this concession, either to take his medicines at
proper intervals or to keep his condition under control. The fact that it is
a chronic complaint does not affect his entitlement in the least. On the
contrary, it may make it more desirable that he should not fast in order not
to let his condition deteriorate.

The question arises here: Since this person is an old man, and his condition
is chronic, he could be suffering this illness for the rest of his life.
What is the solution in this case? This is very simple. When a person
suffers from a chronic disease that makes it difficult for him to fast, and
he is unlikely to recover for a long time, he does not fast. He compensates
for this by feeding a poor person two meals for each day of Ramadan. If he
does more, i.e. feeding more than one person, he receives more reward. But
if he keeps to the obligatory compensation, he receives his reward with
those who fast in Ramadan. This applies regardless of the age of the person
concerned.

Having said this, I may add that elderly people may find it difficult to
fast because they are frail, even though they have no specific illness. Old
age itself counts as an illness in this case. When an elderly person finds
fasting too strenuous to bear, he or she should not fast, but should
compensate by feeding poor people. The two meals should be of the average
type he and his family normally have. Thus, if the elderly person concerned
is of limited means, the meals should be of his own average. If he is
affluent, the meals given to the poor person should again be of the average
type his family normally have.

¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤
To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface
at: http://listserv.icors.org/archives/gambia-l.html

To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: http://listserv.icors.org/SCRIPTS/WA-ICORS.EXE?S1=gambia-l
To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to:
[log in to unmask]
¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤