Islamic Fiqh > Fasting > What breaks the fast
The nullifications of the fast: what obliges only the make-up and what obliges the expiation, with the differences among the schools.
Breaking the fast: deliberate intercourse during the day, which brings the major expiation (freeing a slave, or fasting 2 consecutive months, or feeding 60 poor persons); ejaculation by the hand or by caressing, which requires the make-up without divergence; liquid reaching the body's cavity by enema or by the treatment of a wound; deliberate vomiting, while whoever is overcome by vomiting owes nothing (Abu Dawud 2380, at-Tirmidhi 716, Ibn Majah 1676); menstruation and lochias, even at the last instant; and the mistake about the time on an overcast day: "The make-up is inevitable" (al-Bukhari 1959). Eating while doubting whether dawn has risen requires nothing per the majority.
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Updated on 07 October 2026 at 6:42 PM
Al-Mughni by Ibn Qudama · Hanbali school
And for us (the Hanbalis), it is that he ate deliberately, mindful of the fast, and so broke it, as if he had eaten on the day of doubt; and because it is ignorance of the time of fasting that does not excuse him, like ignorance of the beginning of Ramadan; and because one can guard against it, it therefore resembles deliberate eating, and differs from the case of the forgetful one, which one cannot guard against. As for the report, al-Athram reported that Umar said: "Whoever ate, let him make up a day in its place". And Malik reported in the Muwatta that Umar said: "The matter is light", meaning the lightness of the make-up. And Hisham ibn Urwa reported from Fatima, his wife, from Asma that she said: "We broke the fast, in the time of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), on a cloudy day, then the sun rose". Hisham was told: were they ordered the make-up? He said: "Was there anything other than the make-up?" Al-Bukhari reported it.
No: whoever cannot hold his vomiting owes no makeup; deliberate vomiting obliges makeup.
No per the majority; if donation gravely weakens, breaking and making up is lawful (the ease rule).
No per the majority (the passages are not feeding ways); Hanafis count nasal inhalation: follow your school.
Tasting on the tongue tip and spitting: lawful if necessary; swallowing: breaks the fast.