Islamic Rulings on What Breaks the Fast

Learn the rulings on what actions invalidate fasting in Islam according to the Qur'an, Sunnah, and Salafi scholars, including eating, drinking, sexual activity, and more.

All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah, and that Prophet Muhammad ﷺ is His slave and Messenger.

Fasting has been prescribed by Allah in accordance with the highest wisdom. The fasting person is commanded to fast in a moderate manner, avoiding harm to himself and anything that would invalidate the fast.

The invalidators of fasting fall into two categories:

Actions that come out of the body, such as intercourse, masturbation, deliberate vomiting, menstruation, and cupping. These cause bodily weakness, which fasting already brings, so Allah prohibits combining them to prevent harm.
Actions that enter the body, such as eating and drinking, which prevent the fasting person from attaining the purpose of fasting. (Majmu’ al-Fatawa, 25/248)

“So now have sexual relations with them and seek that which Allah has ordained for you (offspring), and eat and drink until the white thread (light) of dawn appears to you distinct from the black thread (darkness of night), then complete your Sawm (fast) till the nightfall.”

Surah Al-Baqarah 2:187

Based on the Qur’an, Sunnah, and scholarly consensus, the following seven actions invalidate the fast:

Intercourse
Masturbation
Eating or drinking
Anything analogous to eating and drinking (such as transfusions or nourishing injections)
Letting blood by cupping or similar methods
Deliberate vomiting
Menstruation and nifas

Narrated Abu Hurayrah (رضي الله عنه):

“A man came to the Prophet ﷺ and said, ‘I am doomed, O Messenger of Allah!’ He said, ‘Why?’ He said, ‘I had intercourse with my wife during the day in Ramadan.’ The Prophet ﷺ asked: ‘Can you free a slave?’ He said: ‘No.’ ‘Can you fast for two consecutive months?’ He said: ‘No.’ ‘Can you feed sixty poor persons?’ He said: ‘No.’”

Sahih al-Bukhari 1936; Sahih Muslim 1111

Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymin said:

“Actions such as intercourse, masturbation, eating, drinking, cupping, deliberate vomiting, and menstruation/nifas invalidate the fast. Only intercourse requires expiation. Masturbation, if it leads to ejaculation, requires making up the fast later. Accidental or forgetful actions do not invalidate the fast.”

Majalis Shahr Ramadan, Ibn ‘Uthaymin, p. 70-71

Narrated Al-Tirmidhi:

“Whoever vomits involuntarily does not have to make up the fast, but whoever vomits deliberately, let him make up the fast.”

Sunan al-Tirmidhi 720, classed as sahih by al-Albani 577

Other actions, such as enemas, medical injections that do not provide nourishment, dental treatment, eye or ear drops, oxygen therapy, or the insertion of medical instruments for treatment or diagnosis, do not break the fast. (Majmu’ al-Fatawa, 25/233-245)

Conditions for invalidation (except menstruation and nifas) include knowledge of the ruling, deliberate action, and free will. Forgetfulness or compulsion does not break the fast.

And Allah knows best.