Fasting
Fasting, or sawm, covers Ramadan and the voluntary fasts kept through the year. Most questions here are about the edges of the day. Readers ask what breaks a fast, who is excused, and how a missed day is made up. The pages below cover Ramadan basics, what breaks the fast, exemptions and excuses, making up missed fasts, and travel and illness. Every answer here is a sourced summary of a fatwa published on Ftawy, with the full ruling one tap away. Start with what breaks the fast if your question is about the day itself.
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The six days of Shawwal
Six days after Eid: consecutive or not, before or after the missed days, and what the sources say about the reward.Laylat al-Qadr and itikaf
The last ten nights: seeking the night, staying in the mosque, and what the sources say about both.Ramadan: the first days
The first week's questions: the intention, what breaks the fast, suhoor and iftar, and fasting on the road.
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Questions · 4,219 questions
What is the ruling on a fasting sick person who takes a blood-thinning medication every 12 hours, and is it permissible for him to fast for only 12 hours, or should he break his fast?
What is the ruling on aborting a live fetus—in the sixth month of pregnancy—based on doctors' recommendations that it has severe deformities that could lead to its death during pregnancy or childbirth? And is the mother held accountable [in Islamic law] if she refuses the abortion and disobeys her husband's order?
What is the viscous fluid that came out of me after watching pornographic movies during the day in Ramadan without feeling a tremor or force when it was expelled, and what is its ruling, and what is its effect on my fasting?
Is it permissible for me to perform ʿaqīqah for myself—after I have reached 29 years of age—by asking my father to slaughter a sheep and distribute it to a nearby mosque without informing them that it is an ʿaqīqah? And is it possible to do that in Ramadan? And would I be at fault if I reveal the matter of the ʿaqīqah when explaining its virtue and Sunnah to others, knowing that some of them are well-off and have not performed ʿaqīqah for their children?
Is it obligatory to fast the vowed days due to returning to a specific sin, or is there another expiation, knowing one is capable of fasting? And does the obligation to fast 9 days continue every time the sin is repeated? What is the ruling on one who has a vow to fast but has not fasted until Ramadan arrived?
Is it permissible to fast the remaining seven days of the last Ramadan with the intention of an independent make-up to avoid the related fidyah?
What is the expiation for delaying the making up of Ramadan days for two consecutive years due to pregnancy and breastfeeding, with the onset of another pregnancy that prevents fasting?
Does intentional masturbation, with the emission of semen, during the daytime in Ramadan, invalidate the fast, knowing that it does not weaken the body and expels desire?
Is it permissible for a girl who experiences lust and has not completed 50 days of fasting (qada'), to listen to explicit speech from another girl in order to avoid fornication, and to perform her compensatory fasts correctly without invalidating them by seminal discharge?
What is the ruling regarding a woman who reached puberty at the age of 11 and did not fast Ramadan until she was 18 years old, then she fasted and paid fidya for one month, and now she is unable to fast due to an illness that does not prevent her from fasting Ramadan?
Should one continue to break the fast due to severe anemia and knee pain, or try to fast, given that the doctor advised against fasting, and taking medication conflicts with fasting times in the country of residence?
Should a widowed woman in her fifties, who had marital relations during daylight hours in Ramadan in her youth, and no longer remembers the exact number of days this occurred, fast two consecutive months as expiation for each day, knowing that she previously fasted two consecutive months, and that fasting now might be difficult for her but not impossible?
Must one make up or offer expiation for masturbating out of ignorance of its prohibition while fasting an obligatory fast? And does masturbation invalidate the fast, and what is the ruling on one who ejaculates while fasting merely by seeing or thinking of something that incites lust?
If someone intended to fast a day of Qada (making up for missed fasts) for Ramadan then broke their fast, are they required to make up two days: one for Ramadan and another for the day they broke their fast? And does the presence of light bleeding and a brownish discharge during ovulation necessitate making up the fast after Ramadan?
Is the fast valid for one who intended to fast absolutely without specifying the type of fast, and is it obligatory to restart the expiatory fast from the beginning?
Is the opening in the upper palate inside the mouth considered part of the throat? Does cleaning the nose by inhaling water that enters the mouth invalidate the fast? Does this entail making up the fast (qada') or offering expiation (kaffarah)?
Is one sinful for delaying the treatment of large kidney stones that require traveling abroad for treatment? And what is incumbent upon him in terms of making up (fasts) or expiation if he was unable to fast Ramadan for years due to illness?
Is it obligatory to make up for the fasting of the past four years, from puberty until the beginning of fasting, and is it permissible to make it up only by fasting on Mondays and Thursdays, or must it be made up quickly?
Is it obligatory to avail oneself of the concessions for travel (rukhas al-safar) when visiting relatives in Riyadh, and what is the difference between one's homeland (balad al-mawtin) and a place of residence (balad al-istiṭān) concerning travel concessions? Is it necessary to re-fast the missed days (qaḍāʾ) along with offering expiation (kaffārah), or is it sufficient to offer expiation only, and how is the amount of expiation calculated?
Does swallowing salty saliva after performing ablution with salty water invalidate the fast, given that no tissue was available to spit it out? And what is the ruling on this issue?
Does introducing water into the anus while fasting for hemorrhoid patients invalidate the fast in Ramadan, and what is the solution for someone compelled to do so?
Is it obligatory for my mother to make up for the missed Ramadan fasts, knowing that she did not fast them out of fear of my grandmother, and she is now 60 years old and suffers from a chronic illness, and has performed Hajj several times?
What is the religious ruling on paying expiation (kaffarah) for unobserved fasts from two past Ramadans? And should it be paid to charitable organizations? And is it obligatory upon the family? And what is its amount?
Is it permissible for an ordinary person to assess the excuses that allow one to miss congregational prayers, to rule on the permissibility of sharing intentions for intertwined acts of worship, and to apply rulings to issues based on the conditions and guidelines of scholars by himself, or is he obligated to ask people of knowledge regarding all of this?