Islamic Fiqh > Fasting > What does not break the fast
The list of acts that do not break the fast per the Sunnah and the schools: forgetfulness, residual swallowing, baths, injections, speech and looking.
Contents
Updated on 07 September 2026 at 3:44 PM
The four imams agree that backbiting and lying are disliked for the faster but do not break his fast, which remains valid. The basis:
When one of you fasts a day, let him not that day speak obscenely nor shout; if someone insults him or provokes him, let him say: I am fasting.al-Bukhari and Muslim, from Abu Hurayra
And: "Whoever does not give up false speech and its practice, Allah has no need of his giving up food and drink" (reported by al-Bukhari). Ibn Qudama draws from it: the faster must guard his fast from lying, backbiting and insult. Ahmad advised watching one's tongue while fasting and not disputing. an-Nawawi decides: whoever backbites during his fast has sinned without invalidating it; this is the view of Malik, Abu Hanifa, Ahmad and all the scholars, except al-Awza'i, who invalidates it and requires the make-up. Two hadiths recall the risk: "There are fasters who gain from their fast only hunger, and night-prayers who gain from their standing only sleeplessness" (an-Nasa'i, Ibn Majah, al-Hakim, sahih), and: "Fasting is not merely from eating and drinking: fasting is from leaving vain words and obscenity" (reported by al-Bayhaqi and al-Hakim, sahih).
The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said to al-Qa'qa' ibn Sabra: "Sniff water up the nose vigorously, unless you are fasting" (Abu Dawud 2366, at-Tirmidhi 788, Ibn Majah 407, sahih). If, without exaggerating, the water passes the throat: the Hanafis, the Malikis and the Shafi'is (in one view) judge the fast broken; the Hanbalis (in the madhhab) do not break it, since the water entered without intent, like flour dust swallowed by chance.
The majority (Hanafis, Malikis, Shafi'is) judges that cupping does not break the fast: the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) had himself cupped while fasting (reported by al-Bukhari 1939), he permitted cupping for the faster (reported by an-Nasa'i and ad-Daruqutni, sahih chain according to Ibn Hazm), and Thabit asked Anas: "Did you dislike cupping for the faster in the Prophet's time (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him)?" He answered: "No, except for weakness." The hadith "the cupper and the one cupped have broken their fast" is understood metaphorically (the matter will end in breaking) or refers to weakness. The Hanbalis judge on the contrary that cupping breaks the fast.
The residue between the teeth that goes with the saliva: nothing, by the scholars' agreement; swallowed deliberately though it could have been spat: Abu Hanifa does not break, the others break. Phlegm rising from the chest: the Hanafis and the soundest Maliki view never break it, as does a narration of Ahmad; among the Shafi'is, spitting it never breaks, swallowing it after it reached the lip's edge certainly breaks. These matters come from inside the body: they are not like food entering from outside.
The fast rests on the tongue as much as on the stomach: the divergence bears only on invalidation, and no one contests the sin of backbiting. For cupping and treatments, each school keeps its rule: referring to it before the act removes doubt.