Ramadhaan & Fasting

Kissing one's wife while fasting

Q: Regarding kissing the wife during Ramadhan fast. I knew that it was permissibile to kiss the wife as long as it does not lead to anything further. Only recently did I become aware that only kissing without the tongue was meant as kissing with the tongue would require qadha and kafaarah due to the exchange of saliva. As kissing with the tongue is the norm I had not made that distinction till now. Am I required to perfrom qadha and kafaarah or just qadha due to misunderstanding as I see in nurul idha that kafaarah will not be required if someone misunderstood the hadith?

Changing one's clothes during I'tikaaf

Q: I understand that one is allowed to change his clothes during Itikaf. In the Haram Shareef at Makkah and Madinah since there is no privacy, is it ok if one changes his clothes in the toilet when one goes to attend nature's call? Of course care is taken that one does not leave the Haram only for changing the clothes but does it when it is unavoidable to leave to fulfil the need to go to the toilet to relieve oneself.

Breastfeeding while fasting

Q: I would be grateful if Mufti Saheb could advise me on what is best course of action with regards to my situation as follows:

Ramadhan is just around the corner. I have a 9 month old baby who is breastfeeding and two other children. The fasting days, will be very long, as I live in the UK. What should I do in this situation?

  1. Should I carry on breastfeeding while I observe the fasts?
  2. Or should I wean my baby off so then I may be able to fast bearing in mind that she's hardly one year old in age?
  3. Or do I continue breastfeeding but do not observe fast and make up the fasting days immediately after Ramadhan?
  4. Or should I teach her to drink from the bottle, drinking my milk, and observe the fasts?

Please advise accordingly.  Also, I am a Shafi'ee.