The holy month of Ramadan is a month full of blessings and forgiveness. As a month full of goodness and rewards, Muslims around the world will compete to perform obligatory sunnah practices.
One that cannot be missed is certainly carrying out Ramadan fasting which is an obligatory worship. Fasting is very important, considering that it is one of the pillars of Islam.
In Islam, everything will be calculated based on its intention. The intention (niyyah) of fasting in Ramadan is one of the pillars of fasting, because if you fast without intention, then your fast will be invalid.
This is as explained in the hadith of Rasulullah SAW “Whoever does not have the intention to fast before dawn, then there is no fasting for him,” (Sunan al-Tirmidhi 730).
From the hadith above, we can conclude that when someone is fasting but does not intend to stay at night until dawn arrives, then his fast is invalid and he must make up for it in another month.
Dua to Keeping Fast in Ramadan
Muslims are advised to read the dua to keep fast at night. It should be recited before sunrise until the time of Imsak. This dua of fasting can be said verbally or in the heart.
Reading the dua of keeping fast for Ramadan can be said in any language, as long as the person understands its meaning. However, there is a dua for keeping fast that is generally read by many Muslims, namely the following:
However, if you forget this dua for the intention of fasting in Arabic, then you can use your own language, but the meaning and purpose should be the same.
It should be remembered that humans are creatures created by Allah SWT who are not free from mistakes. Especially during fasting at the beginning of Ramadan, forgetting to read the intention of fasting for Ramadan is very prone to occur.
Therefore, the scholars of the Shafi’ii provide solutions for those who forget to read the intention of fasting during Ramadan at night. Imam Nawawi in his book Al-Majmu’ Syarhul Muhadzdzab explains the solution as follows:
“It is sunnah (for those who forget to read dua for keeping fast at night) to intend to fast during Ramadan in the morning. Since this is sufficient, according to Imam Abu Hanifah, precautionary steps are taken with the intention.” (Yahya bin Syaraf An-Nawawi, Al-Majmû’ Syarhul Muhadzdzab)
Meanwhile, according to the Maliki School, it is enough for us to read dua for keeping fast for the full month on the first night of Ramadan. So there is no need to repeat our niyyah of fasting every day because Ramadan fasting is a unity of worship. (Yusuf Al-Qaradhawi, Fiqh al-Shiyam, p. 84)
Dua for Iftar
The time of breaking the fast is the time of intifadah because this time is full of blessings it, which is the time when our duas or prayers are answered.
Dua for breaking the Ramadan fast according to the hadith is as follows:
Reciting dua for the intention of keeping fast and dua for breaking the fast of Ramadan is a form of emulating the teachings of Rasulullah SAWW. So, don’t forget to read it!
