Rules of fasting: what breaks the fast and what does not — a detailed guide with evidence

1The time and limits of the fast

The fast begins at true dawn (a spreading white light on the horizon) and ends when the sun's disk has fully set. Timetables add a safety margin of about ten minutes before dawn (imsak) for those who find dawn light hard to distinguish:

2Intention and its timing; delaying suhoor and hastening iftar

Intention is a condition of the fast: an inner resolve to fast for God, not a spoken formula. For Ramadan the intention is valid at any point in the night until close to dawn; whoever did not intend the fast at night has no fast, per the majority:

For voluntary fasts, the majority allow intending them by day. It is recommended to delay suhoor to just before dawn and to break the fast promptly at sunset — a blessing for body and soul:

It is recommended to break the fast with dates and water, as the Prophet ﷺ did before the maghrib prayer:

3Marital intimacy during the day of Ramadan

Marital relations are entirely lawful in the nights of Ramadan, as Al-Baqarah 2:187 quoted above states; what happens after iftar up to dawn requires nothing beyond the ghusl. During the day, however, it is the only act for which the majority require both make-up and expiation together:

Whoever has intercourse with his wife deliberately in a Ramadan day voids his fast, and the majority oblige him: making up that day, and a ranked expiation that may only be reordered when one is unable: freeing a slave; failing that, fasting two consecutive months; failing that, feeding sixty poor people. Shafi'is and Hanbalis hold the expiation due from each spouse who acted by choice, while Hanafis and Malikis hold it due from the husband alone. Whoever does it forgetfully or under compulsion owes neither make-up nor expiation — indeed the majority hold a coerced act does not even break the fast:

Whoever washes from major impurity after dawn has a valid fast, per the majority — the Prophet ﷺ would wake in a state of major impurity in Ramadan, wash, and fast:

Kissing and embracing without climax do not break the fast, per the majority, though stirring desire deliberately by day is disliked for fear of slipping. If climax occurs without intercourse (by kissing, embracing or masturbation) opinions differ: it requires make-up without expiation per Hanafis and Hanbalis, and requires nothing per Shafi'is and Malikis; for case details consult a trusted scholar. Note that the nights of the month are wide enough, and delay for safety's sake is permitted.

4What breaks the fast

• Deliberate eating or drinking, however little. Whoever forgets and eats, remind him gently — only the deliberate act is accountable.
• Intercourse in a Ramadan day: make-up plus the ranked expiation (freed slave, then two months' fast, then feeding sixty) as in the marital section above.
• Deliberate vomiting: whoever induces it breaks the fast, per the majority; whoever is overcome by it owes nothing, per the hadith of Abu Hurayrah: “Whoever is overcome by vomiting need not make up, but whoever vomits deliberately must make up” (Abu Dawud 2380, Ahmad 10463 — its chain is debated but the jurists rely on it).
• Menstruation and postpartum bleeding: they pause the fast and make up the days after purity however long it takes — “Is it not that when you menstruate you neither pray nor fast?” (Al-Bukhari 321, Muslim 335).
• Nutritive injections: those that substitute for food and drink, such as IV nutrition; contemporary jurists agree they break the fast, since their effect is that of eating.
• Smoking, shisha and e-cigarettes: they break the fast per most contemporary jurists, as deliberate intake; one who smokes makes the day up.
• Deliberately eating before sunset by misjudging the time: the day must be made up.

5What does not break the fast — and where scholars differ

Whatever is involuntary or never reaches the stomach is like dust and water vapour: it does not break the fast. Where opinions differ we present them as they stand:

• Eating or drinking forgetfully: does not break the fast by consensus; the person completes it at once when reminded.
• Swallowing saliva: does not break the fast, even in quantity.
• Siwak and toothpaste: permitted, with care not to swallow water or foam; deliberate swallowing of paste approaches breaking the fast in the view of the most cautious. Some contemporary jurists dislike abandoning the siwak by day under the impression it breaks the fast.
• Rinsing the mouth and drawing water into the nose in wudu: permitted with care; over-vigorous inhalation passes the limit per many jurists — “Be thorough in snuffing water up the nose, unless you are fasting” (Abu Dawud 142, At-Tirmidhi 78 — hasan).
• Non-nutritive injections (local anaesthetic, non-nutritive medicines): most contemporary jurists rule they do not break the fast, as they are neither food nor a substitute for it; a minority are cautious about watery IV drips. Ask a trusted scholar about your case.
• Blood tests and blood donation: do not break the fast, per most contemporary jurists, being neither voluminous nor stomach-reaching; some are cautious about large donations causing debility.
• Eye and ear drops: do not break the fast per Shafi'is and many contemporary jurists, since they do not reach the stomach; Hanafis are cautious about nose drops, as noted next.
• Nose drops: do not break the fast per Shafi'is and Hanbalis; Hanafis hold they do, as the nose is a passage to the throat.
• Asthma inhaler: does not break the fast per most contemporary jurists and fiqh councils, being a vapour with no nutrition; a minority — following classical Hanafi reasoning — hold it does, as inhaled liquid reaching the throat.
• Sublingual medicine (e.g. nitroglycerin): does not break the fast per most contemporary jurists, being absorbed through saliva into the blood without reaching the stomach; some caution against swallowing residue.
• Incense and perfume: smelling perfume does not break the fast by consensus; deliberately inhaling incense smoke does not break it per the majority, though exposure is disliked by some later scholars.
• Swimming, bathing and showers: none breaks the fast, with care against swallowing water — and some caution about deep water in the ears.
• Cupping and chosen blood-letting: an old dispute — in a raised narration: “The cupper and the cupped have broken the fast” (Abu Dawud 2367, Ibn Majah 1675); Malikis and Hanbalis hold both break the fast, Shafi'is hold simple blood-letting does not, the hadith's meaning being debated. Small blood tests and donation are not comparable to cupping.
• Blood leaving involuntarily (a wound, tooth extraction, a nosebleed): does not break the fast, per the majority, so long as nothing is swallowed.
• A wet dream: does not break the fast, being involuntary; one washes and carries on fasting.
• Fainting: it does not void a fast by choice; one unconscious for a whole day — Hanafis require make-up, Shafi'is and Hanbalis hold the fast valid provided consciousness returns before nightfall.
• Dust, flies and grit mixed with saliva: do not break the fast, with care against swallowing heavy accumulations.
• Chewing gum: if flavourless it does not break the fast in the view of those who permit it, though it is disliked without need; if flavoured or sweetened, most contemporary jurists hold it breaks the fast as a precaution — and swallowing fragments does break it.
• A cook tasting: does not break the fast so long as nothing is swallowed and the mouth is rinsed; disliked without need.

6Concessions: the sick, the traveller, menstruating women, the elderly, children, hard labourers, and Western lands

• The sick: a mild illness he can bear — fasting is better; if fasting would harm him or recovery is far off, he breaks the fast and makes it up; if permanently unable, he owes only the fidyah.
• The traveller: he may break the fast on a legitimate journey of roughly eighty kilometres by the measure of many contemporary jurists (the majority's rule: a day-and-night's travel), and makes it up after Ramadan; if travel is not hard for him, fasting is better per most jurists.
• Menstruating and postpartum women: they pause the fast and make up the missed days after purity, with no fidyah owed, by consensus.
• The permanently incapable elderly: they break the fast for good and feed a poor person for each day (fidyah); some hold two poor persons per day.
• Children: no fast is due before puberty; many scholars encourage training from about ten with age-appropriate practice.
• Hard labourers and athletes: hardship alone grants no concession — the fast remains due; if the work threatens real harm he changes the job if he can, or breaks the fast and makes it up. Athletes likewise adapt their training calendar to the month.
• Long days in the West and polar regions: where night is very short or the day extremely long, many of today's scholars — and the International Islamic Fiqh Academy (3rd session, 1986, resolution 67/3-3) — hold that whoever lives where night or day dominates fasts by analogy with the nearest land of normal day-night balance. Others (including Ibn Uthaymin) hold that where a sun visibly rises and sets, the fast runs from that land's dawn to its sunset however long. Follow the fatwa of your country.

7Pregnant and nursing women: make-up or fidyah?

The schools differ on what follows the concession: Hanafis say make-up only; Shafi'is and Hanbalis say make-up plus fidyah if she fears only for her child; Malikis say the pregnant woman makes up while the nursing woman makes up and feeds a poor person. Consult a trusted scholar and your doctor.

8Make-up, expiation and fidyah — and fasting on behalf of the dead

• Make-up (qada): missed days are made up before the next Ramadan; deferring without excuse is blameworthy in the jurists' view — Aisha used to defer hers to Sha'ban:
• Expiation (kaffarah): specific to deliberate intercourse in a Ramadan day, ranked: freeing a slave, then fasting two consecutive months, then feeding sixty poor people (Al-Bukhari 1936, Muslim 1111).
• Fidyah: feeding one poor person per day, for the permanently incapable elderly (Al-Baqarah 2:184) — and, per the dispute above, for some pregnant/nursing women. Its measure, per most jurists, is a mudd of staple food (about 1.5 kg of wheat, rice or its value).
• One who dies owing Ramadan fasts: his guardian fasts on his behalf with his permission —

Fasting voluntary or vowed fasts on behalf of the dead is broader; outside Ramadan the fatwa is more permissive — consult a trusted scholar for details.

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