I've heard my friends say (with absolutely no source to support it) that in order to fast Ramadan you need to be clean, i.e., not consume any alcohol or drugs at least 30 days prior to 1st day of Ramadan.
My opinion is that you shouldn't drink or consume drugs anyway. The 30 days or whatever period shouldn't matter.
Does anyone have credible source to give more information about this?
... حَدَّثَنَا قُتَيْبَةُ، حَدَّثَنَا جَرِيرُ بْنُ عَبْدِ الْحَمِيدِ، عَنْ عَطَاءِ بْنِ السَّائِبِ، عَنْ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ بْنِ عُبَيْدِ بْنِ عُمَيْرٍ، عَنْ أَبِيهِ، قَالَ قَالَ عَبْدُ اللَّهِ بْنُ عُمَرَ قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم " مَنْ شَرِبَ الْخَمْرَ لَمْ يَقْبَلِ اللَّهُ لَهُ صَلاَةً أَرْبَعِينَ صَبَاحًا فَإِنْ تَابَ تَابَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ فَإِنْ عَادَ لَمْ يَقْبَلِ اللَّهُ لَهُ صَلاَةً أَرْبَعِينَ صَبَاحًا فَإِنْ تَابَ تَابَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ فَإِنْ عَادَ لَمْ يَقْبَلِ اللَّهُ لَهُ صَلاَةً أَرْبَعِينَ صَبَاحًا فَإِنْ تَابَ تَابَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ فَإِنْ عَادَ الرَّابِعَةَ لَمْ يَقْبَلِ اللَّهُ لَهُ صَلاَةً أَرْبَعِينَ صَبَاحًا فَإِنْ تَابَ لَمْ يَتُبِ اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَقَاهُ مِنْ نَهْرِ الْخَبَالِ " . قِيلَ يَا أَبَا عَبْدِ الرَّحْمَنِ وَمَا نَهْرُ الْخَبَالِ قَالَ نَهْرٌ مِنْ صَدِيدِ أَهْلِ النَّارِ . قَالَ أَبُو عِيسَى هَذَا حَدِيثٌ حَسَنٌ وَقَدْ رُوِيَ نَحْوُ هَذَا عَنْ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ بْنِ عَمْرٍو وَابْنِ عَبَّاسٍ عَنِ النَّبِيِّ صلى الله عليه وسلم . ...
Narrated 'Abdullah bin 'Umar: That the Messenger of Allah (saws) said: "Whoever drinks Khamr, Salat is not accepted from him for forty days. If he repents, then Allah will accept his repentance. It he returns to it, then Allah will not accept his Salat for forty days. If he repents, then Allah will accept his repentance. If he returns to it, then Allah will not accepts his Salat for forty days. If he repents, then Allah will accept his repentance. If he returns to it a fourth time, Allah will not accept his Salat for forty days, and if he were to repent, Allah would not accept his repentance, and he will be given to drink from the river of Al-Khabal." They said: "O Aby 'Abdur-Rahman! What is the river of Al-Khabal?" He said: "A river of the pus from the inhabitants of the Fire."
[Abu 'Eisa said:] This Hadith is Hasan. Similar to this has been reported from 'Abdullah bin 'Amr and Ibn 'Abbas from the Prophet (saws).
It is clearly from the Hadith above that God will not accept the prayer for 40 days if you consume alcohol. The 40 days punishment is to show how sinful is it to consume alcohol.
Regarding the acceptance of the prayers, Scholars say if you drink you still have to pray all your prayers in this 40 days period. God will not give you Hasanat for it but will surely give you sins if you don't pray.
Regarding the acceptance of the Fasting, some people think that if the prayers are not accepted, then Fasting is not accepted. This was not mentioned in the Hadith and as I said above, The acceptance here is not an order for not praying or fasting.. it is a type of punishment where no hasanat will be collected for you but you will totally sin if you do not pray or fast in that 40 days period.
Anyway, You said it yourself, Muslims should not consume alcohol anyway.
This is baseless. It is upon the person who is claiming that to bring the evidence. If a person neglects any of his prayers or fasts without any legal excuse, then he is committing a major sin which is worse than the sin of drinking alcohol.
To legislate something like 30 days or 1 week prior, you need evidence from Qur'an and Sunnah or Valid Qiyas. If something like that is legislated and a Muslim fails to get rid of the habit before 30 days, he will fall under the impression that he is not clean to fast. And if he neglects the fast, that is dangerous.
Note: I'm talking about a person doing the obligation of fasting and not if his fast is accepted or not.
Further Reference: Validity of the Fast of someone who drinks
The Quran clearly states "Thy must fast" there is no excuse for you not to fast. As an ex alcoholic I could see the 40 days as an excuse for the alcoholic to say "well it's to late so I may as well continue drinking". It's easy to abuse and curse an alcoholic when some one has not been in that situation. Alcoholism is a desise and any Muslim brother with this problem needs support and help, not to shutter him off. There is no excuse to miss your fasts its obligatory and must be done. When Islam was introduced in this world there was a lot of people drinking, Allah is all wise all knowing. Allah clearly states a person must cut down and then stop. Did you ever wonder why Allah said cut down and stop, rather then just stop. Simply because if a alcoholic just stops drinking with out cutting down it could kill him or cause serious health issues. Allah the all mighty is all wise and all knowing, if you not sure check the net for alcoholism withdrawal. Keeping fasts is the best excuse to stop drinking so I think we should not put any brother or sister off this fact. Allah is all knowing he is the judge of all human beings, so don't judge a person who drinks alcohol as the shataan. For what ever reason he may have done more good on this earth then you, paid more zaakat, fed more poor who knows apart from Allah. So don't make biast judgments until you know with evidence and proof what you are saying.
