Grand Ayatollah Shirazi remarks on ruling of “not fasting and praying” out of taqiyya
The daily scholarly meeting of Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Sadiq al-Hosseini al-Shirazi was held on Saturday, the 29th of Rajab. In this session, like the previous meetings, the Marja answered the questions of the attendees about various jurisprudence issues.
In relation to the ruling on breaking the fast before Maghrib out of taqiyya, Grand Ayatollah Shirazi said: This issue is a point of disagreement among jurists, but a group of jurists have said, based on traditions of taqiyya, that if someone is forced to break their fast before Maghrib out of taqiyya, their fast is accepted and there will be no need for Qada.
Regarding the ruling on not fasting at all out of taqiyya, his Eminence said: In this regard, a tradition has been narrated from Imam Sadiq, peace be upon him, that during the reign of al-Mansour al-Abbasi, he declared a day as Eid al-Fitr but it was not actually the day of Eid. And, Imam al-Sadiq (peace be upon him) was made to break his fast out of taqiyya. When asked about the situation, the Imam replied that it was not the day of Eid and breaking his fast was out of taqiyya.
He went on to say: It is mentioned in the narration that Imam al-Sadiq, peace be upon him, said: “By God, breaking my fast on one day of the month of Ramadan and doing Qada of the missed duty is more favorable to me than having my head decapitated.” The Imam was referring to the day he was made to break his fast out of taqiyya after al-Mansour declared the final day of Ramadan as Eid al-Fitr.
Grand Ayatollah Shirazi then concluded: Therefore, if a person does not fast at all, or does not pray at all out of taqiyya, they must do the Qada of the missed duties, because they did not fast and did not pray. However, if the person breaks his fast earlier than Maghrib, because they have fasted and only broken the fast before the permissible Sharia-decreed time, the general principles of taqiyya are applied to their situation and there is no need for them to do the Qada. The same applies to a person who performs Salaat in a way that is invalid out of taqiyya.
