The Pillars of the Valid Fast
1. Niyyah (Intention): The fast must be intended the night before or at the latest before Fajr. The Hanafi school requires renewing the niyyah each night; the Maliki school permits a blanket intention for the entire month made at the beginning of Ramadan.
2. Abstention from the fast-breakers from Fajr to Maghrib: The time of fasting is from true dawn (al-fajr al-sadiq) until sunset (al-ghurub).
What Breaks the Fast — Fast-Breakers (Mufattirat)
Fast-breakers requiring only qada’ (makeup):
- Eating or drinking intentionally
- Sexual intercourse — requires qada’ AND kaffarah (see below)
- Intentional vomiting
- Water reaching the throat via the nostrils when using nasal drops
- Cupping (hijama) — debated by scholars
Fast-breakers requiring qada’ AND kaffarah (expiation — for deliberate, unjustified sexual intercourse):
- Free a slave (historical option)
- Fast 60 consecutive days
- Feed 60 poor people
What does NOT break the fast:
- Unintentional swallowing (e.g., forgetting one is fasting)
- Inhaling dust or flies accidentally
- Eye drops, ear drops (Hanafi: allowed; some others: cautious)
- Injection that is not nutritive (most contemporary scholars)
- Rinsing the mouth without swallowing
- Drawing blood (blood tests, blood donation — majority contemporary view)
- Brushing teeth without toothpaste being swallowed (siwak/miswak explicitly approved in hadith)
Exemptions — Who May Break or Skip the Fast
Complete exemption (no fast, no qada’):
- The elderly unable to fast at all, with no future ability — pay fidya (feed one poor person per day)
- The permanently ill with no hope of recovery — pay fidya
Temporary exemption with mandatory qada’:
- The ill who can recover — break fast when medically necessary, make up the days
- The traveler (at the distance threshold) — may break the fast, must make up
- The pregnant or nursing woman — may break if there is a medical reason for herself or child; make up
Complete exemption, no qada’ or fidya:
- Children before puberty — fasting is not obligatory
- The insane — not religiously obligated
The Spiritual Architecture of Ramadan
The Prophet described Ramadan in three parts:
- First ten days: Rahma (mercy)
- Middle ten days: Maghfira (forgiveness)
- Last ten days: ‘Itq min al-nar (emancipation from the Fire)
The last ten nights contain Laylat al-Qadr (the Night of Power), described as “better than a thousand months” (Quran 97:3). The Prophet intensified his worship in the last ten days with i’tikaf (seclusion in the mosque).
See also: Fiqh Overview, Fiqh Madhabs, Siyam Nafl, Kafara, Maqasid Al Shariah, Understanding Dua, Adhkar