Fasting While Travelling: Rules, Views and Making Up
What the Qur'an says about fasting on a journey, when a traveller may break the fast, which schools prefer fasting or not, and how to make up the days.
This guide explains common views and sources. It is not a fatwa. For your own situation, ask a scholar or imam you trust.
Ramadan 1448 is expected to begin on Monday 8 February 2027, and many people will travel during it: for work, for family, for umrah. The Qur'an deals with the traveller in the same verses that make fasting obligatory, so the rules are clear in outline. The schools differ on the details, and those differences are explained here without taking sides.
What the Qur'an says
The meaning of 2:184 is that whoever is ill or on a journey should fast the same number of other days. Verse 2:185 repeats the permission and adds that Allah wants ease for you and not hardship. The traveller is therefore excused from fasting on the day of travel and makes the day up later.
The hadith collections of al-Bukhari and Muslim report that the Prophet (peace be upon him) sometimes fasted on journeys and sometimes did not, that his companions did both without criticising each other, and that he told a man who found the fast very hard on a journey that it was not righteousness to fast in such hardship. Those reports are the basis of everything below.
Who counts as a traveller
A traveller is someone on a journey of the distance that permits shortening the prayer (see travel prayer: qasr and jam'). The majority of jurists put that distance at roughly 80 km (about 48 miles) one way; Hanafis describe it as three days' walking, which is usually taken as a similar or slightly larger figure. Ja'fari jurists use a shorter distance of about 44 km (counting both directions). You become a traveller once you leave the built-up area of your town.
A day on which you have not yet left home is a normal day. Most jurists say you should begin the fast if you are still at home at Fajr; Hanbalis and some others permit breaking it once the journey starts. If you arrive back home or reach a place where you will stay longer than the period your school sets (four days for the majority, fifteen for Hanafis, ten for Ja'faris), you are no longer a traveller.
Is it better to fast or to break the fast?
The schools agree that both are permitted. They differ on which is better:
| School | Preferred option for a traveller who can manage the fast |
|---|---|
| Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi'i | Fasting is better if it causes no real hardship, because the obligation is discharged in its time |
| Hanbali | Not fasting is better, because it takes the concession Allah has given (compare Muslim 686 on shortening the prayer as a charity from Allah) |
| Zahiri (a minority view) | The traveller must not fast |
| Ja'fari | A traveller who meets the conditions of travel does not fast and makes the day up; a fast kept on such a journey is not counted |
Three practical rules follow from all of this:
- If the journey makes the fast genuinely hard (heat, long driving, physical work, a flight across time zones), break it with a clear conscience.
- If the journey is easy (a train to the next city, a short flight with a hotel at the other end) and your school prefers fasting, fast.
- If you are not sure which school's view applies to you, ask a scholar or imam you trust. Do not criticise a fellow traveller who chooses the other option.
Worked examples
Example 1: Birmingham to London by train, same day. Distance about 165 km each way, so you are a traveller. You leave at 07:00, after Fajr, having started the fast. The majority say complete the day; it is a 12-hour fast and the train is comfortable. You finish the day and owe nothing.
Example 2: Dubai to London flight, departing 08:00 local. Fasting on the plane is allowed. If you do, break your fast when the sun sets where the aircraft is, not at Dubai's Maghrib and not at London's. A westbound flight makes the day longer, perhaps 15–16 hours of fasting instead of 13; many scholars would say this is a hardship that justifies breaking the fast. Either choice is valid; make the day up if you break it. See prayer times when travelling for how to judge times on board.
Example 3: Umrah in Ramadan, ten days in Makkah. Once you settle in Makkah for more than the period your school sets, you are a resident and fast normally. The Hanafi view (fifteen days) would treat a ten-day stay as travel, which permits breaking the fast; most pilgrims fast anyway because the fast in Makkah is light and the reward is great.
Example 4: Lorry driver, 10-hour shifts. Long-distance driving across the travel distance makes you a traveller each shift. If fasting affects your alertness, breaking the fast is both permitted and safer. Make the days up after Ramadan, perhaps across weekends.
Making up the days
A day broken on a journey is made up one for one after Ramadan, before the next Ramadan according to the majority. There is no fidyah for travel days that you make up in time. If you broke the fast because of travel and then found the journey easier than expected, the day still counts as excused; make it up and move on. Read missed fasts: qada, fidyah and kaffarah for the details of timing and the six days of Shawwal.
Practical tips for a fasting traveller
- Carry dates and a bottle of water so that iftar does not depend on an airport shop.
- Check the Maghrib time at your destination on the prayer times page the day before.
- On long drives, plan the iftar stop in advance and do not drive if you feel faint.
- Pray on time; the traveller may shorten and combine prayers, which is covered in praying on a plane or train.
- Write down any days you did not fast as they happen; memory fades by Shawwal.
Useful tools
Questions and answers
I am flying for eight hours. When do I break my fast?
If you are fasting, break it when the sun sets where the plane is, which you can usually judge from the window or the flight map, not at the time of your departure city. If the journey makes the fast hard, you may break it as a traveller and make the day up later.
I travel for work every week. Do I have to break the fast?
No. Breaking the fast is a permission, not an obligation, in the four Sunni schools. If the journeys are routine and the fast is not a hardship, many scholars encourage fasting so the days are not piled up. Ja'fari jurists treat the traveller differently; see the article.
I started the day fasting at home and then set off. Can I break it on the way?
Hanbalis permit breaking the fast once the journey has begun; the majority say a fast begun at home should be completed unless hardship arises. Ask a scholar or imam you trust about your own case.
Do I have to make up the days immediately after I return?
No. They must be made up before the next Ramadan according to the majority; the sooner the better. Keep a note of the dates.
Sources
- Qur'an 2:184–185
- Qur'an 4:101
- Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim (the Prophet fasted and broke his fast on journeys)
- Sahih Muslim 686