Ramadan: fasting, rules and dispensations

O you who believe, fasting is prescribed upon you as it was prescribed upon those before you, so that you may attain piety.

Surah al-Baqara, 183

The fasting of the month of Ramadan is one of the five pillars of Islam, obligatory upon every accountable Muslim who is pubescent and able to bear it. It consists of abstaining, from dawn to sunset, from food, drink and marital relations, with the intention of fasting for Allah.

The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "Every deed of the son of Adam is for him, except fasting: it is for Me and I reward it." al-Bukhari 1904, Muslim 1151 This page gathers all the rules of Ramadan fasting with the positions of the four schools on every question.

Sections of this page

• Ramadan: the definition and status of fastingThe definition of fasting, its status in the Quran and Sunna, the consensus and the proofs of its obligation.
• The conditions of validity of the Ramadan fastPurity from menses, absence of impediments, Islam and accountability: what makes the fast valid.
• The intention of the Ramadan fastThe firm intention (jazm), designating the month, the night timing, daily renewal and the schools' positions.
• The general rules of fastingThe i'tikaf of the last 10 nights: conditions, duration, fasting during the retreat, permitted exits and the woman's i'tikaf.
• What breaks the fast of RamadanIntercourse, deliberate vomiting, nutritive injections: what breaks the fast and what requires expiation or makeup per the schools.
• What does not break the fastEating by forgetfulness, rinsing, cupping, eye drops, gossiping: what does not break the fast by consensus or dominant opinion.
• Disliked acts while fastingKissing with desire, managing the tongue, chewing without need: the makruh acts during fasting.
• Dispensations and complications of fastingThe traveler, the sick, the pregnant or nursing woman, the elderly: who may break, who makes up, who pays the fidya, per the 4 schools.
• The sunnas of the Ramadan fastThe early sahur, the delayed iftar, the invocation at breaking: the sunnas attested by the Prophet.
• The voluntary fasts of the yearMonday and Thursday, white days, 6 days of Shawwal, Ashura, Arafah, the first 8 of Dhul-Hijja: status, proofs and divergences.
• Crescent visibility and different countriesThe crescent moon visibility, different countries, the testimony of one or two witnesses, the schools' positions.
• Making up the fast and special casesMaking up (qada) Ramadan, the prisoner's fast, the continuity of days and special cases.

Ramadan tools