What Is the Penalty for Intentionally Breaking Ramadan Fast?

Answered By Shaykh Dr. Muhammad Fayez Awad

Question

What is the penalty for someone who breaks their fast during the daytime in Ramadan without a valid excuse?

Answer

All praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and prayers and peace be upon the most noble of the prophets and messengers, his Family, his Companions, and the followers.

Fasting

Undoubtedly, fasting during Ramadan is one of the pillars of Islam, which Allah (Most High) has ordained. Allah (Most High) says:

“O you who have believed, decreed upon you is fasting as it was decreed upon those before you that you may become righteous.” [Quran, 2:183]

The Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) said:

“Islam is built upon five (pillars): the testimony that there is no deity except Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, establishing the prayer, giving zakat, making the pilgrimage to the House, and fasting in Ramadan.” [Bukhari; Muslim]

Abu Umama (Allah be pleased with him) reported that I heard the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and give him peace) say:

“While I was sleeping, two men came to me, took me by the arms, and brought me to a steep mountain. They said, ‘Climb,’ and I said, ‘I cannot.’ They said, ‘We will make it easy for you.’ So, I climbed until I was on top of the mountain and heard loud noises. I asked, ‘What are these sounds?’ They said, ‘This is the howling of the people of the Fire.’ Then they took me, and I saw people hanging by their Achilles tendons, their cheeks split open, and blood flowing from them. I said, ‘Who are these people?’ They said, ‘Those who break their fast before it is permissible to do so.’” [Ibn Khuzayma; Ibn Hibban; Hakim]

This hadith serves as evidence of the grave sin of intentionally breaking one’s fast during the daytime in Ramadan without a valid excuse. Their punishment is to be shown in the ugliest form and most terrible state, hanging by their Achilles tendons as a butcher hangs a slaughtered animal, their cheeks split open with blood flowing from them.

Imam Dhahabi (Allah have mercy on him) counted it in his book among the major sins as,

“The Tenth Major Sin: Breaking the Fast in Ramadan without an excuse or permission.” [Dhahabi, al-Kaba’ir]

Ruling

Whoever abandons the fast of Ramadan without an excuse is either abandoning it out of denial, God forbid, or out of laziness. If one abandons it in denial, denying its obligation by saying: “Fasting is not obligatory in the Shari‘a,” then he is a disbeliever, an apostate because he denies something that is unanimously known and essential in the religion and a pillar of Islam.

As for those who leave it out of laziness, a severe threat awaits them. Anyone who neglects it out of laziness or negligence must repent to Allah (Most High) with remorse and a sincere intention not to break the fast in the future without a valid religious excuse, and he must hasten to make up for that day. And if his breaking of the fast was due to sexual intercourse, then in addition to making up the fast, he must also offer expiation, which is freeing a slave. If he cannot find a slave to free, then fasting for two consecutive months. If he cannot do that, then feeding sixty needy people for each day he invalidated his fast through intercourse.

And let us ponder the words of Allah (Most High) at the conclusion of the verses on fasting:

“Allah intends ease for you, not hardship,” and His saying, “and perhaps you will be grateful” [Quran, 2:185], to realize that fasting is a blessing that deserves gratitude by preserving it and performing it as commanded by the Almighty. For this reason, a group from the predecessors wished that the entire year would be Ramadan. We ask Allah to grant us all success and guidance and to open our hearts to what brings happiness in this world and the Hereafter. Indeed, He is All-Forgiving, Most Merciful.

[Shaykh] Dr. Muhammad Fayez Awad

Shaykh Dr. Muhammad Fayez Awad, born in Damascus, Syria, in 1965, pursued his Islamic studies in the mosques and institutes of Damascus. A graduate of the Islamic University of Medina in 1985, he holds a Ph.D. in Islamic Studies from Bahauddin Zakariya University in Pakistan.

He has extensive experience developing curricula and enhancing the teaching of various academic courses, including conducting intensive courses. Shaykh Awad has taught Fiqh, Usul al-Fiqh, Quranic sciences, the history of legislation, inheritance laws, and more at several institutes and universities such as Al-Furqan Institute for Islamic Sciences and Majma‘ al-Fath al-Islami in Damascus.

He is a lecturer at the Sultan Muhammad al-Fatih Waqf University in Istanbul, teaching various Arabic and Islamic subjects, and teaches at numerous Islamic institutes in Istanbul. Shaykh Awad is a member of the Association of Syrian Scholars, a founding member of the Zayd bin Thabit Foundation, a member of the Syrian Scholars Association, and a member of the Academic Council at the Iman Center for Teaching the Sunna and Quran.

Among his teachers from whom he received Ijazat are his father, Shaykh Muhammad Muhiyiddin Awad, Shaykh Muhiyiddin al-Kurdi, Shaykh Muhammad Karim Rajih, Shaykh Usama al-Rifai, Shaykh Ayman Suwaid, Shaykh Ahmad al-Qalash, Shaykh Muhammad Awwama, and Shaykh Mamduh Junayd.