Ramadan: the first days
The first week's questions: the intention, what breaks the fast, suhoor and iftar, and fasting on the road.
10 answers · About 5 min (estimate)
SeasonRamadan
A fast begins with small practical questions before it becomes a habit. When exactly to stop eating, whether a forgotten sip breaks it, what counts as an excuse. This set gathers the answers readers reach for most in those first days.
Each entry is a short summary of a full answer on Ftawy, with the link to that answer at the bottom. The set routes you to them; it does not rule on anything itself.
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- Pick up where you left off1
Is it permissible to complete a fard (obligatory) fast after intending to fast subsequent to the Fajr athan, and would this fast be counted?
If you are observing an obligatory fast, such as in Ramadan, and you did not intend to fast until after Fajr prayer, then your fast is invalid and must be made…
- 2
If sleep overtakes a person before confirming the intention to fast, and mucus is later swallowed due to habit or difficulty breathing, how is the validity of the fast viewed, What is the ruling on making up a missed fast (qadaa’) in this situation?
If you hesitate in the intention to fast a wajib (obligatory) make-up fast, your fast is not valid, due to the saying of the Prophet, peace be upon him:…
- 3
Is a girl's fasting valid if she intended to fast on the first night of Ramadan but forgot to specify the intention to fast before Fajr due to her preoccupation with her grandfather's death, knowing that she had suhoor with the intention of fasting?
Intention (niyyah) is the resolve and determination of the heart to perform an action. So, whenever the heart resolves to fast at any part of the night, then…
- 4
Is the intention for a make-up fast (qada') valid if the intention for fasting was specified two days before the fast, then the intention was recalled on the morning of the fast day?
Regarding make-up fasting (qaḍāʾ), it is essential, according to the majority of scholars, to form the intention from the night before. If you do not form the…
- 5
Does feeling sourness at the back of the tongue, and the presence of a yellow color with saliva when spitting, along with intentionally swallowing the saliva while it is present, break a fasting person's fast?
The taste a fasting person experiences after cleaning their teeth does not break their fast, unless it is vomit. It is considered akin to food residue that…
- 6
Does the emission of pre-seminal fluid (madhy), which is not semen, break the fast of a fasting person if it is emitted due to kissing one's wife or seeing something that arouses desire?
A fasting person breaks their fast if pre-seminal fluid (madhy) is discharged due to kissing his wife, unless it is his habit that nothing is discharged by…
- 7
What is the ruling of the Shari’ah regarding someone who believes that smoking does not invalidate the fast of a fasting person, relying on several arguments, including the absence of a clear religious text, that smoke does not reach the stomach like food, that saying it breaks the fast would necessitate breaking the fast for one who smells exhaust fumes, and that it provides ease for smokers?
This fatwa contradicts the opinion of the majority of scholars who believe that intentionally allowing smoke to reach the throat invalidates the fast, based on…
- 8
What is the ruling of the Shari'ah concerning a pregnant woman who intentionally induced vomiting to alleviate pregnancy symptoms, being unaware that doing so invalidates the fast, and has now stopped doing it? Is she required to make up the fast (qada'), or both make up the fast and offer expiation (qada' and kaffarah), or is nothing required of her?
Whoever does something that breaks the fast, being ignorant that it is a fast-breaker, his fast is not invalidated by that, according to the preponderant…
- 9
What is the ruling on muezzins raising their voices with loudspeakers with the words "Suhur, Suhur" to alert people for Suhur, and also on some individuals walking through the streets with instruments for the purpose of waking people for Suhur, and is there reward in these actions?
"Al-Tas'hir," which is the act of waking people for Suhoor (the pre-dawn meal) through spoken words, chants, or drums, is an innovated bid'ah (religious…
- 10
Is it Sunnah to have Suhoor on the day of Eid al-Fitr?
It is not from the Sunnah to have suhoor on the night of Eid. Rather, the Sunnah on the day of Eid al-Fitr is to eat before going out for prayer, based on the…
Updated Sep 5, 2026