Wisal (continuous fasting)

وِصال

In fasting, wisal means, for most jurists, fasting two or more days with no break between them. ¹ Some Shafi'is define it as fasting two or more days without taking any food on purpose during the night without excuse; by their view intercourse at night does not turn it into a different case. ¹ Some Hanafis define it as fasting the whole year and not breaking the fast on the days when fasting is forbidden. ² Most jurists (Hanafis, Malikis, Hanbalis and some Shafi'is) hold wisal disliked for the community, because the prohibition was an act of mercy; the preferred Shafi'i view is that it is forbidden for the community and permitted for the Prophet ﷺ. ²³ Some early authorities distinguished: permitted for one who is not harmed, who does not imitate the People of the Book and does not turn away from the sunna of breaking the fast early; this is reported of Ibn al-Zubayr and some Successors, who argued that the Prophet himself continued fasting with his companions after the prohibition. ³ For the Prophet, most jurists hold wisal permitted; Imam al-Haramayn holds it an act of devotion for him. Among the views on his words that he is fed and watered by his Lord: the food is from Paradise; or he is given the strength of one who eats and drinks; or the love of God occupies him from food. ³⁴ The Hanbalis do not hold wisal until suhur disliked, though leaving it is better for keeping the sunna of early breaking; the Shafi'is hold that delaying the meal to suhur for any proper purpose is not wisal. ⁴⁵ The Shafi'is give as the reason for the prohibition that the one who continues may grow weak in fasting, prayer and other acts, or tire of them, or harm his body; the Hanbalis say it is mercy. ⁵ Wisal does not void the fast, according to the Shafi'is and most jurists, because the prohibition does not concern the fast itself. ⁵ Most jurists hold that intercourse on a night of wisal ends it, because the one who has intercourse does not keep all the features of a fasting person; some Shafi'is say it does not leave the case of wisal. ⁵⁶ On wisal in prayer, few jurists define it; a hadith forbids continuing in prayer, and al-Shafi'i, as reported to Ahmad, lists cases such as the follower saying amin together with the imam's 'wa la al-dallin', the imam joining the takbir to the recitation, the follower joining his opening takbir to the imam's, and joining the two final salutations. ⁶ Al-Ghazali lists five cases and the jurists give rulings for them: whether a follower's opening takbir joined to the imam's invalidates his prayer is disputed; amin is recommended after a short pause following the Fatiha; and the majority hold that a pause between the opening takbir and the recitation, by the opening supplication, is sunna. ⁶⁷