Sawm is the Arabic word for fasting. Its meaning in Islam is exact: to hold back from eating, drinking and marital relations from the moment of true dawn (Fajr) until the sun sets (Maghrib), with the intention of doing it for Allah. A person who fasts is a sa'im. Fasting is also a training of the tongue and the self, so the fasting person keeps away from lies, arguments and bad words too.
The word
Sawm comes from the root s-w-m, to hold back. In the Arabic of the Prophet's ﷺ time, anything that held still or refrained could be called sa'im, such as a horse that stood without eating. The Quran uses the word once for a fast from speech, when Maryam was told to say:
فَكُلِى وَٱشْرَبِى وَقَرِّى عَيْنًۭا ۖ فَإِمَّا تَرَيِنَّ مِنَ ٱلْبَشَرِ أَحَدًۭا فَقُولِىٓ إِنِّى نَذَرْتُ لِلرَّحْمَٰنِ صَوْمًۭا فَلَنْ أُكَلِّمَ ٱلْيَوْمَ إِنسِيًّۭا ﴿٢٦﴾
Fakulee washrabee wa qarree 'ainaa; fa immaa tarayinnna minal bashari ahadan faqooleee innee nazartu lir Rahmaani sawman falan ukallimal yawma insiyyaa
So eat and drink and be contented. And if you see from among humanity anyone, say, 'Indeed, I have vowed to the Most Merciful abstention, so I will not speak today to [any] man.' "
Quran 19:26 · Sahih International · Read in Surah Maryam
Sawm and siyam are two forms of the same verbal noun, and both mean fasting. The Quran uses siyam for the fast of Ramadan (2:183) and sawm in the verse above. Urdu and Bangla speakers often say roza or rozah, from Persian, for the same thing.
Sawm in the Quran
يَٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ كُتِبَ عَلَيْكُمُ ٱلصِّيَامُ كَمَا كُتِبَ عَلَى ٱلَّذِينَ مِن قَبْلِكُمْ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَتَّقُونَ ﴿١٨٣﴾
Yaa ayyuhal lazeena aamanoo kutiba 'alaikumus Siyaamu kamaa kutiba 'alal lazeena min qablikum la'allakum tattaqoon
O you who have believed, decreed upon you is fasting as it was decreed upon those before you that you may become righteous -
Quran 2:183 · Sahih International · Read in Surah Al-Baqarah
The command comes with its purpose: la'allakum tattaqun, "that you may become righteous", which is taqwa. The next verses name the month: "The month of Ramadhan [is that] in which was revealed the Qur'an" (2:185), give the allowance for the sick and the traveller, and set the times: "eat and drink until the white thread of dawn becomes distinct to you from the black thread [of night]. Then complete the fast until the sunset" (2:187).
Sawm in the hadith
كُلُّ عَمَلِ ابْنِ آدَمَ لَهُ إِلَّا الصِّيَامَ، فَإِنَّهُ لِي وَأَنَا أَجْزِي بِهِ، وَالصِّيَامُ جُنَّةٌ
"Allah said: Every deed of the son of Adam is for him, except fasting. It is for Me, and I will reward it. And fasting is a shield."
Sahih al-Bukhari 1904; Sahih Muslim 1151, from Abu Hurayrah
The Prophet ﷺ listed the fast of Ramadan among the five things Islam is built on (Sahih al-Bukhari 8), and said the one who fasts has two joys: when he breaks his fast, and when he meets his Lord.
Who must fast
The fast of Ramadan is required of every Muslim who is adult and sane. Someone who is ill or travelling may break it and make it up later, and a woman does not fast during her period or post-natal bleeding and makes up the days afterwards (2:184). Someone who can never fast, through old age or a lasting illness, pays a fidya instead.
Types of fasting
- Fard: the fast of Ramadan, and making up missed Ramadan fasts (qada) and kaffarah fasts.
- Wajib in the Hanafi school: a fast you vowed (nadhr), and making up a voluntary fast you broke.
- Sunnah and recommended: Ashura with a day before or after, the Day of Arafah for those not on Hajj, six days of Shawwal, Mondays and Thursdays, and the three white days (13th to 15th) of each Hijri month.
- Disliked: fasting Ashura alone, singling out Friday or Saturday, and fasting day after day without breaking at night (wisal).
- Forbidden (makruh tahrimi in Hanafi terms): the two Eid days and the three days after Eid al-Adha (the days of tashriq).
The intention
Hanafi positionThe intention (niyyah) is in the heart; saying it is not required. For the Ramadan fast, a vow for a set day and a voluntary fast, the intention may be made at night or during the day, up to before the midpoint of the fasting day (al-dahwa al-kubra), as long as nothing that breaks the fast has happened. For making up missed fasts, kaffarah and an open vow, it must be made before dawn. Eating suhoor with the thought of fasting is itself an intention.
Other madhhabs
- Shafi'i
- Every obligatory fast needs an intention made at night, for each day. A voluntary fast may be intended in the day, before midday.
- Maliki
- The intention must be made at night. One intention at the start of Ramadan is enough for the whole month, if the fast is not broken off.
- Hanbali
- An obligatory fast needs an intention at night for each day. A voluntary fast may be intended during the day, even after midday.
For what breaks a fast and what does not, use what breaks your fast, and for the full rules, the Ramadan fasting rules. To read why Muslims fast, see the purpose of fasting.
How the word is used today
Muslims say "I am fasting" (ana sa'im, to a woman sa'imah), and the Prophet ﷺ taught the fasting person to answer an insult with "I am fasting" (Sahih al-Bukhari 1904). Sawm is also one of the five pillars, so you will see it in lists such as shahada, salah, zakat, sawm and hajj.
The rulings on this page are pending review by the scholars on our team.
Related terms
- Quran 2:183-187 and 19:26, translation by Sahih International.
- Sahih al-Bukhari 1904 and 1894; Sahih Muslim 1151.
- Sahih al-Bukhari 8.
- Ibn Abidin, Radd al-Muhtar, Kitab al-Sawm, on the kinds of fast and the time of intention. The other madhhabs' positions are summarised from their standard manuals.