What Breaks Your Fast in Ramadan (and What Does Not)
By the IslamicNur team · 9 November 2026 · Fasting
A fast is broken only by things the Quran and Sunnah show to break it. Something does not break the fast unless it does so deliberately, knowingly and by choice.
Things that break the fast
Eating or drinking on purpose, including smoking: "eat and drink until the white thread of dawn becomes distinct from the black thread, then complete the fast until night" (al-Baqarah 2:187).
Sexual intercourse. This is the most serious; it also requires expiation (al-Bukhari 1936).
Releasing semen by choice, for example through kissing or touching.
Deliberate vomiting. "Whoever vomits involuntarily need not make it up, and whoever makes himself vomit must make it up" (Abu Dawud 2380, at-Tirmidhi 720).
Menstruation or post-natal bleeding, even just before Maghrib.
Nourishing injections or IV drips that replace food and drink.
Cupping (hijamah), and giving a large amount of blood, according to the Hanbali school and the Saudi Permanent Committee: "The one who does cupping and the one who has it done have broken their fast" (Abu Dawud 2367).
Things that do not break the fast
Eating or drinking by mistake: "Whoever forgets while fasting and eats or drinks, let him complete his fast, for it was Allah who fed him and gave him drink" (al-Bukhari 1933, Muslim 1155).
Using the miswak or a toothbrush, carefully, without swallowing toothpaste.
Eye drops, ear drops and asthma inhalers, according to Shaykh Ibn Baz and Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymin.
Non-nourishing injections, blood tests and small amounts of blood.
Swallowing your own saliva, tasting food without swallowing, bathing, and a wet dream.
