Ramadan: Fiqh of Fasting

Part One: The Conditions, the Intention, and What Actually Breaks the Fast

Brothers,

Ramadan is one to two weeks away. That means today is the day to learn the rules of this month before you are inside it, not halfway through it wondering whether what you did this morning ruined your fast. A khateeb who waits until mid-Ramadan to teach fiqh has already let half his congregation make preventable mistakes. So today, before the month begins, we go through it properly.

Allah tells us plainly why this month exists:

O you who believe! Fasting is prescribed for you, as it was prescribed for those before you, so that you may become mindful ˹of Allah˺. (Al-Baqara, 2:183)

Hold onto that verse. Everything we discuss today, every ruling, exists to serve that one purpose: taqwa. Fiqh is not the point of Ramadan. Fiqh is the fence that protects the point of Ramadan.

Who Must Fast

Fasting Ramadan is obligatory on every Muslim who meets these conditions: sane mind (the insane are not held accountable), having reached puberty (a child who has not reached puberty is not obligated, though many are trained early), and physically able to bear it. A woman who is menstruating or in postpartum bleeding does not fast during those days and must make them up later; she is not sinful for this, it is a mercy written into her obligation. A traveler and the sick are given a temporary exemption we will cover in Part Two.

If you meet these conditions, sane, past puberty, able-bodied, and not traveling, fasting Ramadan is not optional. It is one of the five pillars this deen is built on.

The Intention: Made at Night, Before Fajr

Every act of worship in Islam requires an intention, and fasting is no exception. The strong position, held by the majority of scholars, is based on this hadith:

On the authority of Hafsah (may Allah be pleased with her), that the Prophet ﷺ said: 'Whoever does not determine to fast before Fajr has no fast.' (Abu Dawud, Tirmidhi, Nasa'i)

This does not mean you need to say a formula out loud or wake yourself at a specific minute to announce it. The intention is a decision in the heart: “I intend to fast tomorrow for Allah.” If you eat suhoor before Fajr with the purpose of fasting that day, that itself is your intention fulfilled. If you go to sleep the night before Ramadan planning to fast the next day, that intention carries. The one thing you cannot do is decide to fast for the first time after Fajr has already entered, for an obligatory fast like Ramadan. Some scholars hold that one nightly intention at the start of the month suffices for the whole month if your plan does not change, but the safer and stronger practice is to renew the intention each night, since it costs nothing and removes any doubt.

What Breaks the Fast

There are clear actions that invalidate a fast when done deliberately:

Eating or drinking on purpose. Anything that enters the stomach deliberately, food, drink, or anything with nutritional value, breaks the fast and requires making up that day (qada).

Intimacy between spouses during fasting hours. This is the most serious violation, and it carries a kaffarah, an expiation, not just a make-up day. The basis is the hadith of the man who came to the Prophet ﷺ in distress:

A man came to the Prophet ﷺ and said, 'I am ruined, O Messenger of Allah.' He asked, 'What has ruined you?' The man said, 'I had intercourse with my wife while fasting in Ramadan.' The Prophet ﷺ said, 'Can you free a slave?' He said no. He said, 'Can you fast two consecutive months?' He said no. He said, 'Can you feed sixty poor people?' He said no. (Bukhari & Muslim)

The Prophet ﷺ then provided for the man from charity brought to him and told him to feed his own family with it, showing mercy even within the ruling. The order of the kaffarah is: free a slave (essentially inapplicable today), if unable then fast sixty consecutive days, if unable then feed sixty poor people. This applies specifically to deliberate intercourse. Deliberate eating or drinking requires qada and sincere repentance; a portion of scholars extend the same kaffarah to deliberate eating and drinking as well, out of caution, though the majority reserve the full kaffarah for intercourse alone. Either way, deliberately breaking a fast without excuse is a serious sin, not a shrug.

Deliberate vomiting. If you make yourself vomit on purpose, the fast is broken and must be made up. If vomiting overtakes you involuntarily, nothing is broken.

On the authority of Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him), that the Prophet ﷺ said: 'Whoever is overcome by vomiting does not have to make up the fast, but whoever vomits deliberately must make it up.' (Abu Dawud, Tirmidhi)

What Does NOT Break the Fast

Just as important as knowing what breaks the fast is knowing what does not, because unnecessary doubt ruins the ease Allah built into this worship.

Forgetting. If you forget you are fasting and eat or drink, your fast remains valid. Stop the moment you remember, and continue the day as normal.

Whoever forgets while he is fasting and eats or drinks, let him complete his fast, for it is Allah who has fed him and given him drink. (Bukhari & Muslim)

Anything unintentional. A drop of water swallowed accidentally while rinsing the mouth for wudu, dust or smoke that enters the throat without your intent, none of this breaks the fast. The standard is intent, not accident.

Tasting food without swallowing. A cook checking a dish for salt, tasting it on the tip of the tongue and spitting it out without swallowing, does not break the fast, though it is better avoided without genuine need.

Using the siwak. The Prophet ﷺ used the siwak while fasting; it is recommended, not merely permitted, at any hour of the fasting day.

Non-nourishing injections. Contemporary scholars are in broad agreement that an injection or IV that is medicinal, not nutritional, meaning it does not function as food or drink for the body, does not break the fast. An IV drip that provides nutrition or caloric sustenance is treated differently by many scholars and would break the fast, since it performs the function of eating. If you are ever given medication during fasting hours here, know that the ruling depends on what the injection is for, not simply whether a needle was used.

Part Two: Exemptions, Logistics, and Why Any of This Matters

Brothers,

Who Is Exempt, and How They Make It Up

The sick. A temporary illness that fasting would worsen or delay recovery from allows a person to break the fast, with qada owed once health returns. A chronic illness with no realistic hope of recovery, where fasting would cause real harm indefinitely, allows the person to pay fidyah instead, feeding one poor person for each day missed, since there is no future day of health to make up the fast in.

The traveler. Allah gives an explicit concession here:

...and whoever is ill or on a journey, then an equal number of days ˹are to be made up˺. Allah intends for you ease and does not intend for you hardship. (Al-Baqara, 2:185)

A traveler may choose to fast or not, and if he does not, he owes qada once he is settled again.

The elderly, unable to fast permanently. An elderly person who cannot bear fasting at all, with no expectation this will change, feeds one poor person for each day of Ramadan missed, following the same fidyah principle as chronic illness.

Pregnant and nursing women. This case has real scholarly difference, and I will give you the strong default with the difference noted honestly. If a pregnant or nursing woman fears for her own health from fasting, she is treated like the sick: she breaks her fast and owes qada once she is able. If she fears specifically for the health of the child rather than herself, the stronger position among the majority of scholars is that she owes both qada and fidyah, since the concession in that case is tied to another life, not only her own. A minority of scholars, notably within the Hanafi school, hold that qada alone suffices in every case for a pregnant or nursing woman. Where genuine need exists, a woman should seek out a knowledgeable person rather than guess.

Making Up Missed Days

Missed fasting days from illness, travel, or menstruation must be made up before the next Ramadan arrives. They do not need to be consecutive. Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) said:

I would have days to make up from Ramadan, and I would not be able to make them up until Sha'ban. (Bukhari & Muslim)

That gives you the full year, in effect, to make up missed days. Do not let it slide until the last week of Sha’ban out of neglect. Handle it early while it is still fresh.

Common Mistakes Seen in Practice

Brothers, over the years I have seen the same errors repeat. A man assumes toothpaste automatically breaks his fast; brushing your teeth is fine, the caution is only against swallowing it. A man breaks his fast early out of doubt about the time, when the correct response to doubt is to wait, not to assume. A man delays his qada year after year until it piles up unmanageably. A man assumes any medication at all invalidates his fast, when the ruling depends on what the medication does, as we covered. And too many men give up fasting from hunger and frustration rather than genuine inability, when the difficulty itself is often the exact thing earning the reward.

Logistics Inside These Walls

Brothers, I know your Ramadan here has its own constraints. Suhoor depends on what you can gather from commissary the night before, since you cannot simply wake and cook. Plan your commissary purchases before Ramadan starts with suhoor specifically in mind: something with real substance, not just sugar, so it holds you through the day. Coordinate with chaplaincy and your unit early about tray times and any accommodation for iftar, since waiting on that conversation until the first night of Ramadan leaves you scrambling. If your tray comes at a time that conflicts with the fast, know your rights to request adjustment, and be patient with whatever the institution can or cannot provide. Allah does not ask you to fast in comfort. He asks you to fast within the means you have, and that is exactly what you are doing.

Why Any of This Matters

We spent this entire khutbah on rulings, on what breaks and does not break a fast, because a fast built on ignorance is a fast built on shaky ground. But never forget why the ruling exists. Go back to where we started:

O you who believe! Fasting is prescribed for you, as it was prescribed for those before you, so that you may become mindful ˹of Allah˺. (Al-Baqara, 2:183)

Taqwa is the target. Fiqh is the road that gets you there without wandering off it by accident. Learn the rules so your fast is valid, and then forget the rules were ever the point, and let your hunger, your thirst, and your restraint teach your heart what Allah wants it to learn this month.

O Allah, let us witness this Ramadan in good health and sound faith.

O Allah, teach us our fiqh correctly, and protect us from ignorance that invalidates our worship without our knowledge.

O Allah, make our fasting a means of taqwa, not merely an act of hunger.

O Allah, grant ease to the sick, the traveler, the elderly, and every soul among us carrying a genuine hardship.

O Allah, do not let us delay what we owe You out of laziness or neglect.

O Allah, accept the fast of every man in this room, and multiply its reward beyond what any of us can imagine.

O Allah, purify our intentions before this month begins, so that every hour of hunger is written for Your sake alone.