What is the ruling on someone who eats or drinks thinking that the sun has set, then realizes that it has not yet set?
Whoever eats or drinks believing that the sun has set, then later discovers that it has not yet set, their fast is invalid, and they must make up that day after Ramadan. It is not permissible to break the fast before confirming sunset—either by seeing it, through personal reasoning, or by relying on the statement of someone trustworthy in their religious commitment.
What is the ruling on giving Zakat al-Fitr in cash?
The default ruling is that Zakat al-Fitr should be given as the staple food of the land. In Jordan, for example, the staple food is wheat or rice, and the amount of Zakat al-Fitr is 2,500 grams per person. It is easy to give this amount of rice to the poor and needy, and this is the correct ruling according to all Islamic schools of thought.
However, Hanafi scholars have permitted giving Zakat al-Fitr as monetary value, considering it more beneficial for the poor and easier for the giver.
Is a person rewarded for refraining from all that breaks their fast when required to do so, and is it considered a valid fast?
If a person eats or drinks thinking that Fajr has not yet arrived, but then someone informs them that Fajr had already begun, they must refrain from eating for the rest of the day and make up the fast later.
If they observe the required restraint (imsak), they will be rewarded for obeying the command because fulfilling an obligation brings reward.
However, this is not considered a valid fast in terms of rulings. For example:
● It is not disliked (makruh) for them to use a miswak after noon.
● They are not encouraged to hasten the breaking of the fast at sunset.
● Other fasting-related rulings do not apply to them.
What is the ruling on combining (jam‘) and shortening (qaṣr) prayers when travel is repeated on a daily basis?
All praise is due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon our master, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.
A traveler is permitted to avail himself of the concessions of shortening and combining prayers once the distance of his journey reaches (81 km) or more. This is on condition that his journey is a permissible one, and that he begins shortening and combining only after setting out and passing beyond the built-up limits of the city in which he resides, or beyond the administrative boundaries of the area where he lives.
Accordingly, if the distance between one's workplace and one's place of residence reaches the distance upon which the concession of combining and shortening depends, then combining and shortening are permissible once he leaves the built-up area, even if this travel is repeated on a daily basis.
Ash-Shirbīnī (raḥimahullāh) said: "It is permissible to combine Ẓuhr and ‘Aṣr, either as an early combination (taqdīm) in the time of the first, or as a delayed combination (ta'khīr) in the time of the second; and likewise Maghrib and ‘Ishā' — either early, in the time of the first, or delayed, in the time of the second — during a long, permissible journey, in following [the Prophet's practice]. As for the delayed combination, it is established in the two Ṣaḥīḥs from the ḥadīth of Anas and Ibn ‘Umar (raḍiyallāhu ‘anhum). As for the early combination, Ibn Ḥibbān and al-Bayhaqī graded it ṣaḥīḥ from the ḥadīth of Mu‘ādh, and at-Tirmidhī graded it ḥasan." [Quoted with slight abridgment from Mughnī al-Muḥtāj, Vol.1/p.529]
The conditions for combining and shortening have already been explained in Fatwa No. 14 and Fatwa No. 842. And Allah, the Exalted, knows best.
