What Breaks the Fast in Ramadan and What Does Not
The agreed things that break a fast, what to do if you eat by mistake, and a careful look at modern questions: injections, inhalers, eye drops, blood tests.
This guide explains common views and sources. It is not a fatwa. For your own situation, ask a scholar or imam you trust.
Most of what breaks the fast is obvious and agreed by every school. The hard cases are the ones the early scholars never had to face: inhalers, eye drops, blood tests, nicotine patches. This guide separates the two. It describes views, it does not issue rulings; where scholars differ, we say so and ask you to consult a scholar or imam you trust for your own situation.
Agreed: these break the fast
If done deliberately, knowing you are fasting, between Fajr and Maghrib:
- Eating or drinking anything, including a sip of water while making wudu that you swallow on purpose.
- Sexual intercourse. This also requires an expiation (kaffarah) in addition to making up the day: fasting sixty consecutive days, or if unable, feeding sixty poor people.
- Deliberate vomiting. Whoever is overcome by vomiting owes nothing; whoever makes himself vomit must make up the day (reported by Abu Dawud and al-Tirmidhi). This is the majority position.
- Menstruation or post-natal bleeding beginning at any point in the day, even a minute before Maghrib. The day is made up later (Sahih Muslim 335).
- Anything that reaches the stomach through the mouth or nose as nourishment, such as tube feeding, by analogy with eating.
Smoking is treated as breaking the fast by the overwhelming majority, since smoke is drawn in deliberately and has substance.
Agreed: these do not break the fast
- Eating or drinking by forgetfulness. The Prophet (peace be upon him) said to complete the fast, for it was Allah who fed and watered you (Sahih al-Bukhari 1933; Sahih Muslim 1155). Stop the moment you remember.
- Swallowing your own saliva, or the taste of food that remains after rinsing the mouth.
- Rinsing the mouth and nose in wudu, without exaggerating.
- Showering, swimming (without swallowing), perfume, deodorant, lotions, eye make-up.
- A wet dream during the day, or waking in a state of major impurity: the fast is valid; take a ghusl and continue.
- Nocturnal eating until Fajr itself: the deadline is true dawn, not the imsak line. See imsak explained.
- Tasting food on the tip of the tongue and spitting it out, for example a cook checking salt; allowed by most, disliked without need by some.
Modern questions: where scholars differ
The principle most scholars apply today is this: what breaks the fast is nourishment or a substance reaching the stomach through a normal channel, or sexual intercourse. Things that reach the bloodstream without feeding the body, or enter through channels that are not eating, are mostly held not to break it. Councils such as the Islamic Fiqh Academy (OIC, Jeddah 1997) and bodies in many countries have published positions along these lines. Individual scholars, especially in the Hanafi school, are stricter about anything entering the body cavity. The table summarises; it is not a fatwa.
| Case | Common position | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Injections that are not nutritional (vaccines, insulin, antibiotics, painkillers) | Do not break the fast (many councils) | Some scholars advise making up the day as a precaution |
| Nutritional drips, IV feeding, glucose infusion | Break the fast (majority) | By analogy with eating |
| Blood tests, blood donation | Do not break the fast (majority) | Some dislike donating large amounts because of weakness, by analogy with cupping |
| Asthma inhaler (reliever) | Scholars differ; many councils: does not break | Others: breaks, because particles may reach the stomach. Health first; ask a scholar |
| Nebuliser | More likely to break (liquid mist) | Ask a scholar |
| Eye drops | Do not break (majority) | Hanafis: do not break even if a taste is felt; Malikis: break if a taste reaches the throat |
| Ear drops | Do not break (many, if the eardrum is intact) | Hanafis traditionally: break |
| Nasal spray, nose drops | Scholars differ | Spitting out what reaches the throat is advised |
| Toothpaste | Does not break if not swallowed; disliked by many | Siwak or dry brush is safest |
| Nicotine patch, skin creams | Do not break (majority) | Absorbed through skin, not a channel of eating |
| Suppositories, enema | Scholars differ | Majority of classical scholars: break; several contemporary councils: do not |
| Dental treatment, anaesthetic injection | Does not break if nothing is swallowed | Spit, do not swallow blood |
| Endoscopy, gastroscopy | Breaks if a lubricant or liquid is introduced (common view) | Ask a scholar and your doctor |
| Dialysis | Peritoneal dialysis: breaks (nutrients); haemodialysis: scholars differ | Patients on dialysis should ask both doctor and scholar |
Two rules of thumb for the grey area:
- Health comes first. If you need the medicine during the day, take it. Qur'an 2:184 and 2:185 excuse the sick; the question of whether to make up the day comes afterwards, and making up a day is easy.
- Where possible, time it outside the fast. Many medicines can be taken at suhoor and iftar. The NHS and the IDF-DAR Diabetes and Ramadan guidelines both say to agree a medication plan with your doctor before Ramadan. See fasting with health conditions.
If the fast is broken
| What happened | What to do |
|---|---|
| Ate or drank by mistake, thinking it was still night or already Maghrib | Hanafi, Shafi'i, Hanbali: make up the day. Some scholars hold no make-up is needed if you had checked reasonably. Ask a scholar |
| Ate deliberately | Make up the day; repent. Hanafis also require kaffarah for deliberate eating or drinking |
| Intercourse | Make up the day plus kaffarah |
| Menstruation began | Make up the day later |
| Illness forced you to break it | Make up when well |
A broken day does not cancel the rest of the month. Continue fasting the next day as normal. For how to make up days and how fidyah works, see missed fasts, qada and fidyah. For the basics of who fasts and the daily sunnahs, see fasting basics. Your daily times are on the Ramadan timetable.
This article is general information. Nothing here is a ruling for your specific case, and nothing here is medical advice; for medicines, talk to your doctor.
Useful tools
Questions and answers
I ate breakfast having forgotten I was fasting. Is my fast broken?
No. The Prophet said that whoever eats or drinks out of forgetfulness should complete his fast, for Allah fed him (Sahih al-Bukhari 1933; Sahih Muslim 1155). Stop as soon as you remember and carry on.
Does brushing my teeth break the fast?
Brushing does not, provided you do not swallow the toothpaste. Many scholars consider toothpaste disliked during the fast because of its taste and the risk of swallowing; a dry brush or siwak avoids the question.
Can I take an asthma inhaler while fasting?
Scholars differ. Several fiqh councils and many contemporary scholars hold that a reliever inhaler does not break the fast because it is a gas with negligible substance; others hold it does, because some reaches the stomach. If you have asthma, do not risk your health: use the inhaler and ask a scholar you trust whether to make up the day.
Does a blood test or vaccination break the fast?
The widespread view is that drawing blood and non-nutritional injections (vaccines, insulin, antibiotics) do not break the fast. Nutritional drips and intravenous feeding are generally held to break it. Ask your doctor whether a test can wait until after iftar if you prefer to avoid any doubt.
What if I vomit?
Vomiting that overcomes you does not break the fast. Deliberately making yourself vomit does, in the majority view, and that day must be made up.
Sources
- Qur'an 2:187
- Sahih al-Bukhari 1933; Sahih Muslim 1155 (eating or drinking forgetfully)
- Sahih Muslim 335 (menstruation: make up fasts)
- Hadith on deliberate vomiting: reported by Abu Dawud and al-Tirmidhi
- NHS, Ramadan and fasting health advice (nhs.uk)
- IDF-DAR Diabetes and Ramadan Practical Guidelines