Making up for Missed Ramadan Fasts Collectively

Ideally, all arguments related to making up for missed Ramadan fasts due to a pandemic collectively should have been established, for instance, the onset and the end of Ramadan, the number of fasting days (29 or 30 days), Eid al Fitr feast and Eid al Fitr prayer, thus the value of collectivity can be organized and coordinated well.

To begin with, it is breaking the fast together in Masjid (mosque). Although making up missed fasting days of Ramadan is conducted outside the holy month, the solemnity and the atmosphere of Ramadan can be elicited through breaking fast together with people who ask for Allah’s blessings by fasting for 8 hours. There is a vast variety of the psychological dynamics for learning in social life.

Second, Taraweeh prayer can be performed during the moment of observing fast collectively as if Muslims usually do during Ramadan. In fact, Taraweeh prayer substantially is a regular night prayer, performed by Muslims in the first part of the night, individually or in groups, and is categorized as sunnah.

Abdur Rahman bin 'Abdul Qari (RA) said, "I went out in the company of 'Umar bin Al-Khattab (RA) one night in Ramadan to the mosque and found the people praying in different groups. A man was praying alone or a man was praying with a little group behind him. So, 'Umar (RA) said, 'In my opinion I would better collect these (people) under the leadership of one Qari (Reciter) (i.e. let them pray in congregation!)'. So, he made up his mind to congregate them behind Ubai bin Ka'b (RA). Then on another night I went again in his company and the people were praying behind their reciter. On that, 'Umar (RA) remarked, 'What an excellent Bid'a (i.e. innovation in religion) this is; but the prayer which they do not perform, but sleep at its time is better than the one they are offering.' He meant the prayer in the last part of the night. (In those days) people used to pray in the early part of the night." (narrated by Bukhari, Ibnu Majah, Bayhaqi, et al.)

Third, Muslims often celebrate Nuzulul Qur’an (i.e. the Qur'an Revelation Day) in Ramadan. Allah has said in Qur’an, “The month of Ramadhan [is that] in which was revealed the Qur'an, a guidance for the people and clear proofs of guidance and criterion. So whoever sights [the new moon of] the month, let him fast it; ...” (Qs. al-Baqarah [2]: 185).

There are two important events related to the month of Ramadan in the above verse. Those are the Revelation of Qur’an and the starting point Allah made for Muslims to observe a one-month-obligatory-fast. In the practical level, we can distinguish the beginning of the Qur'an Revelation, Ramadan month, the starting point of fasting order and the fast itself.

The purpose of celebrating Nuzulul Qur’an in the month of Ramadan is essentially to commemorate and be grateful for the Qur'an Revelation which contains life guidance for human being, while the psychological nature of Ramadan is related to its time alone. It can be similar with a case of Indonesian people celebrating the Independence Day on every 17th August, but for some reasons, they can only celebrate it outside 17th August or even outside August. As long as the theme of the celebration is related to Independence Day, this change will not reduce the sacredness and the benefit. Ideally, the factors of the event dates and the themes are important, however, when we face an emergency in Ramadan, which disables us to celebrate Nuzulul Qur’an, we can replace the moment of commemoration outside Ramadan as long as the theme is the Qur’an revelation. Moreover, Muslims are assumed to observe fast collectively.

Fourth, what if there is a question, “When Muslims do not fast in Ramadan, do they fail getting the merit of itikaf (i.e. stay in Masjid) and Laylat Al Qadr (i.e. The Night of Decree) which means the reward of acts of worship done in this one single night is more than the reward of around 83 years (1000 months) of worship?” The meaning of itikaf is staying in Masjid to tie oneself in moment of contemplation and solitude for certain purposes, such as evaluating one’s devotion to Allah, counting the blessings that Allah has granted and praising to Him, conducting group studies which can only be held in the quiet moment, etc. The time is not limited to Ramadan, however, it was narrated that the Prophet often did the itikaf in the end of Ramadan, perhaps to improve his understanding of Qur’an. Therefore, itikaf can still be done in the end of collective fasting month, because the subtantial purpose is to find resolution in the dynamics of life as well as explore meanings in the Qur’an which are hard to solve unless in a silence and quiet moment.

The Muslims faith to The Night of Al Qadr falls into two categories. The first category is those who believe that the precious moment comes in the odd nights of the last part of ramadan and will be given to people who are still awake to worship Allah and do the rituals such as prayer and reciting Qur’an. The second one is those who believe that The Night of Al Qadr does not exist in the end of Ramadan, it is knowledge given to everyone who has insight and technology.

For the former, if they want to get the moment of The Night of Al Qadr, they can stay at home during Ramadan, doing itikaf, so, when it comes to making up the missed fast, they don’t have to do the same thing outside the Ramadan. While the latter, these people do not have to wait for the coming of The Night of Al Qadr, both during the month of Ramadan and on collective fasting month.

Five, the payment of Zakat. Zakat is the provision of wheat flour, rice or other staple foodstuff from Muslims and their families, servants or slaves, which is given to the needy before the Eid prayer. If it is given after the prayer, it will become alms. The purpose of Zakat al-Fitr is that the poor can enjoy and participate in celebrating the day of Eid.

If the month of Ramadan is understood only as a means of togetherness in carrying out fasting while the substance of Ramadan is the fasting, then the replacing of fasting month outside of Ramadan due to a pandemic does not eliminate the meaning and function of Ramadan fasting as a self-control system, which face impulses both from within and from outside. For those who successfully observe collective fasting, they will still have competence in controlling lust. Similarly, other problem solving systems such as learning or management, the results will still be the same, whether implemented in March, April or May, as long as environmental variables are the same. Based on this way of thinking, all activities conducted during the month of Ramadan, such as paying zakat fitrah, celebrating Eid al-Fitr, and performing Eid al-Fitr prayer can be done during collective fasting (outside of the month of Ramadan). Such returning to ‘fitr’ or ‘self purity’ is reached because of fasting, which is said to be able to remove sin through pious deeds, hence, it's not because of the particular month.

Moreover, Muslims celebrates Eid al-Fitr because they have succeeded in observing fast for 1 month with all the ups and downs to get the ability to control the lust. The success was made a celebration with takbir, new clothes, forgive each other and eat together with family. So, the celebration is not derived from the month but from the fasting activity. Besides, Eid al-Fitr prayer contains takbir, prayer and lecture, gives the meaning of glorification of Allah who has given life instructions in the form of the Qur'an and the Sunnah of the Prophets, propaganda of da'wah, as the indicator of the end of the fasting month and welcoming the feast of Eid.

Thus, it can be seen that collective fasting or the replacing of Ramadan fasting to other month after the pandemic ends has several positive impacts as follow:

From the health aspect, first, the community keeps away from decreasing endurance due to fasting, thus potentially avoid the danger of corona virus attacks, minimizing the potential of having to be treated in a hospital. It will certainly help medical staff so that the burden is not too much, and certainly has the potential to minimize human fatalities. Second, if Muslims continues fasting during the pandemic, the government who merely emphasizes giving plea policy will find it difficult to prevent the occurrence of various crowds due to the wide variety of activities and traditions following the command of fasting and Muslims commonly have high militancy toward them. The types of crowd include praying in congregation 5 times a day, tadarus (i.e reciting Al Qur’an) in musalas in various villages in Indonesia, visiting Masjid when it comes to Maghrib prayers to get takjil (food for iftar), not to mention food traders who take advantage of the time of breaking and dawn, performing taraweeh prayer, Friday prayers and Eid al-Fitr and going to hometown. It might still be easy to control the crowd in a big city, but I am not sure of rural life since most people living in villages do not get the the sufficient information. Many workers take a nap in the Musala/ Masjid (mosque) after the Dhuhr prayer to alleviate fatigue and burden during fasting, and the crowds of people in the mosque during itikaf is likely to occur. If the fasting of Ramadan is eliminated, consequently, this policy will also eliminate the crowds, and many lives of Muslims and non-Muslims are saved and sharak is also not prohibited.

From a financial and economic perspective, if Muslims insist on fasting during a pandemic, it will result in many infections and fatalities, surely the financial burden is quite high and expensive to buy rapid test, to maintain body immune system, to afford isolation rooms, and to deploy the health workers. Currently, when Ramadan has not started yet, the members of the House of Representatives have proposed changes to the state budget and regional budgets, exchange rates of rupiahs is around 16,000 to 17,000, volunteers and entrepreneurs have shown real action to help people financially, and countries scramble to buy medical facilities. Furthermore, government’s lockdown rule (closing spaces and activities of public), whether small or large, will cause economic movement to fail, the price of goods will increase, triggering many people invade or hoard consumer products and the government must provide food for the needy people. In this situation, entrepreneurs will not be able to survive if the condition lasts too long. A lot of workers must be laid off, poverty will rise, and people lose financial endurance. It will be very heavy for developing countries, such as Indonesia, where the president had to prepare 405 trillion funds. Insha Allah, the making up of Ramadan fasts during the pandemic will be able to reduce transmission of Covid-19 and loss of life while reducing financial and economic movements.

From the psychological aspect, the policy of replacing Ramadan fasting to other month due to a pandemic, if delivered properly and wisely based on religious values - ​​both the Qur’an and the Sunnah- as well as the explanation of the details of positive values ​​and the effects of harm from various aspects by the experts, Insha Allah, can be accepted by Muslims prominent figures and community leaders. If we reflect on the cases of tradition changes that have occurred during the pandemic, such as negating Friday prayers, Umra and Hajj, it should not be difficult for the society to accept changes in Ramadan fasting. They will be happier when they find a way out with a substitute fasting month which resembles the atmosphere, spiritual and economic activities of Ramadan, as described previously. It is assumed that Indonesian non-Muslims are also very hopeful that the majority of Muslims do not insist on fasting during the pandemic because it will also affect all followers of religion. The suggestion of making up missed Ramadan fasting to other month will be able to not only provide a win-win solution to public but also bring a new hope. The action does not merely subsitute Ramadhan fast due to the danger of pandemic but also provide solutions by presenting ‘new’ Ramadan month after the pandemic is over.

From a paradigmatic perspective or point of view, it is indeed not easy to distinguish between text and context, authority and rationality, tradition and modernity. History of the different groups in Islam and even among Islamic schools of thought largely depart from the way of looking at reality or problems. From this fact, it is necessary to present prominent figures of large Islamic groups in Indonesia to discuss this draft of policy. When it is difficult to meet an agreement, the solution is if there are at least 2-3 large sects of Muslims and the government agrees and announces the replacement of Ramadan fasting to other month, Insha Allah, the ummah will follow. This large amount of people is already significant enough to prevent people from fasting during a pandemic and reduce transmission of the Covid-19.

It is also important that the authorities should continue to explain religious arguments and the purpose of moving the fasting of Ramadan to other month. It is done to provide comparative data to the people, between those who agree and disagree, so that people can judge and compare what policy is seen the most feasible and able to answer the social problems and reduce human fatalities.

Tranlated from "Mengganti Puasa Ramadan Secara Kolektif (4 April 2020)"

Related article

Part 1 "Ramadan Fasting amid COVID19 pandemic"
Part 3 "Endurance in Observing Ramadan amid the Coronavirus Outbreak"
Part 4 "Is observing Ramadan fast better than taking advantage of the concession given by Allah?"
Part 5 "Weighing The Advantages and Disadvantages of Observing Ramadan Fast amid COVID-19 Outbreak Compared to That When the Pandemic is Over"

Translation Team

Ummu Lathifah Ahmad, M.Pd
Panca Andi Wibowo, SE
Siti Muhayaroh, S.Pd