Is it necessary to make an intention when a person wants to fast.
Answer:
In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
As-salāmu ‘alaykum wa-rahmatullāhi wa-barakātuh.
Making the intention to fast is necessary. If a person merely refrains from all the invalidators of fast without an actual intention of keeping a fast, such a fast will be invalid.
NB – One’s fast is still intact if he makes intention (for obligatory fasts) any time before half of the day has passed, provided that he did not perform any act that will nullify his fast since the break of dawn.
The intention for keeping fast is simply, “I intend to fast for the pleasure of Allah Ta’aala”
It is sufficient to make intention from the heart and not necessarily verbally.
And Allah Ta’āla Knows Best
Mufti Arshad Ali
Darul Iftaa, Jaamia Madinatul Uloom (Trinidad)