to be man's guidance, and an explanation
of that guidance, and of that {214} illumination, as soon as any one of you
observeth the moon, let him set about the fast." (Sura ii. 179-181). The
Ijma' is also unanimous on this point. Young children and idiots are
excused. Sick persons and travellers may postpone the fast to another time.
"He who is sick, or upon a journey, shall fast a like number of other days.
God wisheth you ease, but wisheth not your discomfort, and that you fulfil
the number of days." (Sura ii. 181). This is called a qaza fast, that is, a
fast kept at another time in lieu of one which has been omitted.

If a person makes a vow that, if God grants a certain request, he will fast
(roza-i-nazr), or if he fasts by way of atonement for some sin committed
(roza-i-kafara), in both cases it is a wajib duty to keep the fast. Some
hold that the former is a farz duty and base their assertion on the verse:
"Let them bring the neglect of their persons to a close, and let them pay
their vows." (Sura xxii. 30).

All other kinds of fasts are nafl, a term already explained (p. 199). Such
are the fasts kept on the 10th day of Muharram, on the Aiyam-i-Biz (bright
days)--the 13th, 14th and 15th day of any month, on the 15th of Sh'aban,
that is, the day following the night called Shab-Barat, and on the 30th of
each month in which there are thirty days. A nafl fast may be broken if the
person who intended to keep it receives an invitation to a feast. According
to Bukhari, a woman may not make a nafl fast without the consent of her
husband. The reverse is not the case, for "Men are superior to women on
account of the qualities with which God hath gifted the one above the
other, and on account of the outlay they make from their substance for
them." (Sura iv. 38). It is said that one day a woman came to the Prophet
and said that her husband had slapped her. The Prophet wished to punish him
for doing so improper an act, but he was prevented by the descent from
heaven of the verse just quoted, which is held to be conclusive evidence of
the inferiority of women. The verse also contains the words "chide those
{215} (wives) for whose refractoriness ye have cause to fear; remove them
into beds apart, and scourge them." It is mustahab to fast some days in the
month Shawwal, for Muhammad is reported to have said: "Whosoever keeps the
fast of Ramazan and some seven days in the preceding month of Shawwal, it
is as if his whole life were