What are the excuses that permit breaking the fast in Ramadan?

The questioner : We would also like to know the excuses that permit breaking the fast in the blessed month of Ramadan.

The Shaykh : The excuses that permit breaking the fast have been mentioned previously, such as illness and travel. Among the reports is that a woman may be pregnant, fearing for herself or for her fetus.
Among the excuses is also that a woman may be breastfeeding, fearing for herself or for her infant if she fasts. Another excuse is when a person needs to break his fast to save a protected life from perishing, such as finding a drowning person in the sea or a person in a place surrounded by fire, where saving him requires breaking the fast. In that case, he may break his fast and save him. Similarly, if a person needs to break his fast to strengthen himself for jihad in the cause of Allah, that is one of the reasons permitting the fast to be broken, because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said to his companions during the Battle of the Conquest:
If the reason permitting the breaking of the fast is present and a person breaks his fast on account of it, he is not required to abstain for the rest of that day. If, for example, a person breaks his fast to save a protected life from perishing, he remains in a state of having broken his fast. This is because he broke his fast for a reason that permits it. Therefore, he is not required to abstain at that time, as the sanctity of that day has been lifted by the reason permitting the breaking of the fast. For this reason, we say:
The stronger opinion in this issue is that if a sick person recovers during the day and he had been breaking his fast, he is not required to abstain. If a traveler arrives in his hometown during the day and had been breaking his fast, he is not required to abstain. If a menstruating woman becomes pure during the day and had been breaking her fast, and of course she had been breaking her fast.
So we say, the correct phrasing is: if a menstruating woman becomes pure during the day, she is not required to abstain. This is because all these people broke their fasts for a reason that permits breaking the fast, so that day has no sanctity for them due to the Shari'ah permitting the breaking of the fast in it. Therefore, they are not required to abstain if the reason permitting the breaking of the fast ceases.

The questioner : But what is the difference between this situation and the case where knowledge of the entry of Ramadan comes during the day?

The Shaykh : Yes, the difference between them is clear. Because if the proof is established during the day, they are required to abstain, because at the beginning of the day they only broke their fast due to the excuse of ignorance. Therefore, if they had known that this day was from Ramadan, they would have been required to abstain. As for those other people we mentioned, they know that it is from Ramadan, but breaking the fast is permissible for them. So there is a clear difference between the two. Yes.