Islamic Fiqh > Fasting > Eating or drinking by forgetfulness: the fast remains valid
One who eats or drinks by forgetfulness does not break his fast per the majority of schools; the Maliki view differs. The hadith and its evidence.
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Updated on 31 August 2026 at 3:55 AM
The majority (Hanafis, Shafi'is, Hanbalis) judges that eating or drinking by forgetfulness neither breaks the fast nor requires a make-up:
Whoever forgets while fasting and eats or drinks, let him complete his fast, for it is Allah who fed him and gave him drink.al-Bukhari 1933, Muslim 809
Whoever eats or drinks forgetfully does not break his fast: it is a provision Allah has granted him.at-Tirmidhi 721, ad-Daruqutni, sahih hadith
It is also reported: "Whoever breaks the fast in Ramadan forgetfully owes neither make-up nor expiation" (Ibn Khuzayma in his Sahih, Ibn Hibban, hasan hadith). The argument: fasting is a worship mixing the lawful and the unlawful, and its prohibitions fall away alike by mistake and by choice, as in prayer and hajj.
The Malikis judge on the contrary that the fast is broken and the make-up obligatory: they apply the letter of "eat and drink until the white thread becomes distinct to you from the black thread of the dawn... then complete the fast till the night" (al-Baqara 187), which was not completed. Malik said: whoever eats or drinks forgetfully in a voluntary fast owes no make-up and completes his voluntary day. Ibn al-Arabi reports that all the fuqaha of the cities held to the apparent sense of the hadith "it is Allah who fed him and gave him drink", and that only Malik approached the question from another side; ad-Daruqutni also reported the wording "no make-up upon you".
The Hanafis and the Shafi'is judge that intercourse committed forgetfully does not break the fast, with neither make-up nor expiation: the hadith of forgetfulness names eating and drinking, and they extend it to everything that breaks the fast. The Malikis and Ahmad (in one narration) deem it broken with a make-up, without expiation, on the word: "error and forgetfulness are lifted from my community", the expiation following the sin which vanishes with forgetfulness. The apparent sense of the Hanbali madhhab, Malik in another narration and Ibn al-Majishun among the Malikis require the make-up and the expiation: the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) ordered the man the expiation without asking him whether the intercourse was deliberate.
Ibn al-Mundhir reports the scholars' agreement: nothing is due from the faster for what he swallows of what passes with the saliva between his teeth and which he cannot spit out. If he can spit it out and swallows it deliberately: Abu Hanifa does not break the fast, the other scholars break it.
Forgetfulness does not remove the day's reward: the majority teaches to continue the fast serenely as soon as the reminder comes. For the case of forgotten intercourse the views diverge: prudence commands making up the day in every school.