Muwatta, Book of Fasting

The Book of Fasting is the fourth book of the Muwatta in the transmission of Yahya ibn Yahya al-Laythi from Malik ibn Anas, in the edition of Bashshar Awwad Ma'ruf (1997). It occupies pages 385 to 417 of the first volume in the PDF pagination, and contains 85 numbered texts (781–865) in twenty-seven chapters. It begins with the sighting of the Ramadan crescent, then the consensus on fasting before dawn, hastening the breaking of the fast, fasting in a state of major impurity, kissing for one who fasts, travel and fasting, expiation and cupping, Ashura, continuous fasting, making up Ramadan and the ransom, making up voluntary fasts, and it closes with the merit of Ramadan and the manners of fasting ^{1 2}.

• The crescent and the breaking of the fast (781–789): the hadith of Ibn Umar, "Do not fast until you see the crescent, and if it is hidden from you, then estimate it," and the hadith of Ibn Abbas in which the count is completed at thirty; the cut-off report of the sighting of the crescent in the time of Uthman in the evening; Malik's view on one who alone sees the crescent, and on people who err on the day of breaking the fast ^{1 3}.
• Intention, hastening the breaking, and the state of major impurity (788–796): one who resolves to fast before dawn; the hadith of Sahl ibn Sa'd on hastening the breaking of the fast; the hadiths of Aisha and Umm Salama on fasting in a state of major impurity from intercourse; and the dispute of Abu Hurayra with Marwan on this ^{3 4}.
• Kissing and touching for one who fasts (797–805): the story of the man who kissed his wife and then felt remorse; the hadith of Aisha on the Prophet ﷺ kissing while fasting; and the sayings of Ibn Abbas, Urwa and Ibn Umar on leniency and prohibition ^{4 5}.
• Fasting on a journey, in pregnancy and in illness (806–814): the Prophet broke his fast on the journey of the Conquest when he reached al-Kadid; Anas's hadith, "the faster did not blame the one who broke his fast"; and cases of one who returns from a journey during Ramadan ^{5 6}.
• Expiation and cupping (815–821): the hadith of expiation in the case of the Bedouin who broke his fast in Ramadan and was given a basket of dates; the cut-off report of Sa'id ibn al-Musayyab with a mention of a camel, which the editor rejects; and cupping by one who fasts, according to Ibn Umar, Sa'd and Hisham ibn Urwa ^{7 8}.
• Ashura, continuous fasting, and the prohibition of fasting in one period (822–828): the hadith of Aisha on the fasting of Quraysh on Ashura in the time of ignorance; Mu'awiya's sermon on the day of Ashura; Umar's report to al-Harith ibn Hisham (may God be pleased with him); the prohibition of fasting on the two festival days; and the prohibition of continuous fasting ^{8 9}.
• Expiation by fasting, illness, and fasting on behalf of the dead (829–836): two consecutive months of fasting for accidental killing and for zihar; the ruling on one who is ill; a vow of fasting on behalf of the dead; and Ibn Umar's saying: "No one fasts on behalf of anyone" ^{9 10}.
• Making up Ramadan and the ransom (837–856): Umar breaking his fast on a cloudy day; separating or continuing the making up; making up for one who forgot; the hadith of the ransom as related to Anas, to a pregnant woman and to Sa'id ibn Jubayr; and the saying of al-Qasim ibn Muhammad about one who delays making up his fast until the next Ramadan ^{10 11}.
• Doubt about Sha'ban, and comprehensive chapters on fasting (857–865): Aisha making up her fasts until Sha'ban came; the prohibition of fasting on the day of doubt; the hadith of Aisha on the Prophet's fasting in Sha'ban; the hadiths "fasting is a shield" and "the change in the breath of one who fasts"; the open doors of Ramadan; the toothstick; the six days of Shawwal; and fasting on Friday ^{11 2}.

Malik begins most chapters with a connected hadith or a report, then sets out the opinions of the people of learning in Medina and "what we found the people of learning in our land acting upon". He often uses the expression "this is the most beloved of what I have heard to me". The book contains many cut-off reports and the views of Successors such as Sa'id ibn al-Musayyab and Ata ibn Yasar. In two matters Malik departs from a sound connected hadith: fasting for one who wakes in a state of major impurity, and making up for one who forgot. The editor explains this ^{4 12}.

Under each text the editor records Malik's students who transmitted it, and refers to the two Sahihs, the Sunan and the Musnad al-Jami'. He quotes Ibn Abd al-Barr on connection and cutting, and points out errors in chains, such as a version that reads "from Abu Hurayra (may God be pleased with him) or Abu Sa'id", in doubt, in the hadith of the garden, and Ibn Abd al-Barr's remark about Ikrima in the hadith of the crescent. He prefers the stopped version (mawquf) in the hadith of Abu Suhayl, although Ma'n ibn Isa raised it ^{13 14}.

Each text of the book has its own record. It gives, in their particular wording, what the text says, names its highest narrator and its chapter, and records the editor's takhrij, with a short excerpt from the text where it suits. See Ramadan fasting and the ransom ¹.