Fasting Ramadhan

1. Fasting Ramadhan is one of the five pillars of Islam
2. Fasting is obligatory upon all the people upon the sighting of the new moon. (Baqarah/185)
3. Sighting is determined by the process of testimony of a witness, if none, Shaaban/Ramadhan is deemed to be 30 days.
4. No amount of people not seeing the hilal negates the testimony of a reliable witness. (Case of Ibn Umar in Al-Madinah).
5. Requirements (shuroot) for the obligatoriness of fasting are:
   1. Islam
   2. Maturity (age of buloogh)
   3. Sanity
   4. Ability
6. Whoever is unable to fast because of age or chronic/terminal illness can not fast and feed one needy person for each day.
7. Requirements for the validity of the fast are:
   1. Islam
   2. End of menstrual or post-natal bleeding
   3. Pre-maturity (age of rushd). Children of this age who are able are to be ordered to fast to become accustomed to it, similar to salat.
   4. Sanity
   5. Intention from the night.  Merely being aware any time in the night that one is fasting is sufficient. Also, eating something at night with intention that it is because of fasting the next day.  (Intention is in the heart.) Conditional intention is accepted before knowledge of the status of the next day.
8. Its obligations (furoodh):
   1. Abstention from all that which breaks the fast from the "second" fajr (the one that "goes up") until sunset.
9. Its sunan:
   1. Breaking fast quickly and without delay at sunset.
   2. Delaying suhoor until shortly before fajr
   3. Increasing one's good deeds
   4. Saying "I am fasting" if one is provoked (to oneself in other than Ramadhan for fear of riyaa')
   5. To make du'a upon breaking fast,  The reported one is, "Dhahaba adh-dhama' wa abtallat al-'urooq wa wajaba al-ajr in shaa Allah." meaning, "The thirst has gone, the veins are moist and the reward is establish if Allah wills."