What breaks the fast in Ramadan?

The eight that break it

Shaykh Ibn Uthaymeen رحمه الله explains that three of these are named in the Qur'an itself, in the verse that sets the fast's boundaries:

"So now, have relations with them and seek that which Allah has decreed for you. And eat and drink until the white thread of dawn becomes distinct to you from the black thread. Then complete the fast until the night."— Qur'an 2:187

Intercourse, eating and drinking are the three the verse names. The rest are established by other texts and by reasoning the scholars state openly.

• Eating and drinking: this covers everything taken in, whether nourishing or harmful, lawful or unlawful — the scholars make no exception for any of it.
• Ejaculation by one's own action: through touching, looking repeatedly, or otherwise bringing it about. The Prophet ﷺ called it shahwah (desire), and the sacred hadith has Allah saying of the one fasting, "He leaves his food, his drink and his desire for My sake."
• What takes the place of food and drink: a nourishing drip that the body lives on instead of eating. Shaykh Ibn Uthaymeen's reasoning is that it is not food or drink in itself, but it stands in their place, and what carries a thing's meaning carries its ruling.
• Deliberate vomiting: the Prophet ﷺ said, "Whoever deliberately makes himself vomit must make up the fast, and whoever is overcome by vomiting owes nothing."
• Blood drawn by cupping: on the strength of "The one who cups and the one cupped have broken the fast."
• Menstrual and postnatal blood: the Prophet ﷺ said to the woman, "Is it not that when she menstruates she neither prays nor fasts?" Shaykh Ibn Uthaymeen notes that the scholars are agreed the fast of a menstruating woman is not valid, and postnatal bleeding is treated the same.

What does not break it

Several things people worry about are explicitly excluded, and the reasoning is consistent: the fast stands until a text says otherwise.

• A wet dream, or a drip that is not semen: the sleeping person has no intent, and madhy (pre-ejaculatory fluid) does not break the fast even if it comes with desire. Shaykh Ibn Uthaymeen notes this was the position of Ibn Taymiyyah رحمه الله and the literalist school.
• Non-nourishing injections: whether into a vein or a muscle, they do not break the fast even if their taste reaches the throat — they are neither food nor drink nor in their place.
• Dust or the like reaching the throat: it was not intended, so it does not break the fast.
• Being forced to break the fast: a person who is compelled is not choosing, so the fast remains valid. The same applies to a woman whose husband forces her while she is fasting.

The three conditions

Shaykh Ibn Uthaymeen رحمه الله explains that the scholars distinguish between what is commanded and what is forbidden. A commanded act is not dropped by ignorance, forgetfulness or compulsion — prayer, for instance, must still be made up. A forbidden act is forgiven entirely when done without knowledge, remembrance or intent, "as if he had not done it."

1. Knowledge: you must know the ruling and know the state of affairs — that it is still night, for instance. A man who ate after dawn believing it was night does not make up the fast, because he was ignorant of the time.
2. Remembrance: forgetfulness removes the ruling. The Prophet ﷺ said, "Whoever forgets while fasting and eats or drinks, let him complete his fast, for it is Allah who fed him and gave him drink."
3. Intent: the act must be chosen. This is why a wet dream, dust in the throat, or compulsion does not break the fast.

The one that carries a penalty

Only intercourse carries the kaffarah (expiation) on top of making up the day — and only when it happens in the daytime of Ramadan to someone obliged to fast. The expiation is freeing a believing slave; if that is not possible, fasting two consecutive months; if not that, feeding sixty poor people, half a sa' each, which the Permanent Committee gives as roughly a kilogram and a half of the local staple. If the fast was not obligatory — a traveller, for instance — there is no expiation, only making up the day. Every other breaker requires making up the day alone, though if the fast was obligatory there is also sin.

Key takeaways

• Eight acts break the fast: intercourse, eating, drinking, deliberate ejaculation, nourishing drips, deliberate vomiting, cupping, and menstrual or postnatal blood.
• No breaker counts without knowledge, remembrance and intent — so eating in forgetfulness, a wet dream, or being forced leaves the fast intact.
• Only intercourse in the daytime of Ramadan carries expiation; everything else requires making up the day.
• Non-nourishing injections, madhy, and unintended dust in the throat do not break the fast.

Further reading

• Shaykh Ibn Uthaymeen, Fatawa Arkan al-Islam, the section on the nullifiers of fasting
• Shaykh Ibn Uthaymeen, Fiqh al-'Ibadat
• The Permanent Committee fatwa 18424

And Allah knows best.