Answer
Wa `alaykum as-Salamu wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.
In this fatwa:
1- It is not allowed to skip fasting because of playing for a hobby.
2- If, however, it is a career you are pursuing, then you should do everything possible to postpone practice during Ramadan.
In responding to your question, Sheikh Ahmad Kutty, a senior lecturer and an Islamic scholar at the Islamic Institute of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, states:
Fasting is the fourth foremost pillar of Islam; it is a mandatory duty on every adult Muslim who is not sick or traveling, or, in the case of women, menstruating or undergoing post-natal period of bleeding.
The period of fasting is also fixed and cannot be altered. If one is not able to fast for the reasons mentioned above, they must do so later when conditions change.
It is not allowed to skip fasting because of playing for a hobby. If, however, it is a career you are pursuing, then you should do everything possible to postpone practice during Ramadan. You are not allowed to change the fasting month for another month.
If, however, it is a question of skipping a few days, and you have no choice over it, then, according to some scholars, you are allowed to skip them, and fast later.
Allah Almighty knows best.
Editor’s note: This fatwa is from Ask the Scholar’s archive and was originally published at an earlier date.