If a person breaks his fast during the day in Ramadan for an excuse, and that excuse is removed on the same day, is it permissible for him to eat and drink, or is he required to abstain?

The questioner : The questioner says: If a person breaks his fast during the day in Ramadan for an excuse, and that excuse is removed on the same day, is it permissible for him to eat and drink, or is he required to abstain?

The Shaykh : First, we ask our brother the questioner to illustrate this issue for us. Where is the questioner?

The questioner : For example, a person is ill and needs to be given a nutritional injection, so he breaks his fast, and then his condition improves. Does he abstain, or does he break his fast and eat and drink?

The Shaykh : The question is clear, everyone. A man broke his fast in Ramadan for an excuse, and that excuse was removed. Is he required to abstain for the rest of the day, even though he will make up the fast, or is he not required to? He is not required to abstain; he is not required to hold back. This is because this man was permitted to break his fast for that day by evidence from the Shari'ah. The Shari'ah permits a fasting person to take medicine while fasting, but if he takes it, he breaks his fast. Is the sanctity of the day established for this man or not? It is not established, because he was permitted to break his fast, so it is not established. However, he must make it up. Requiring him to abstain without any benefit for him in the Shari'ah is not sound. Allah the Exalted said: As long as this man does not benefit from abstaining, we do not require him to do so. Is there another example? Another example: A man sees a drowning person in the water and says, "If I drink, I will be able to save him, but if I do not drink, I will not be able to save him." He drinks and saves him. Now, he drank and saved him. Does he eat for the rest of his day? No, he does not abstain; he eats for the rest of his day. This is because this man did not keep this day respected in his right, since he was permitted to break it according to the Shari'ah, so he is not required to abstain. For this reason, if we have a sick person, do we tell this sick person, "Do not eat unless you are hungry, and do not drink unless you are thirsty," meaning do not eat except at the time of necessity and do not drink except at the time of necessity? We do not say this. Why? Because this sick person has been permitted to break his fast. So, everyone who breaks his fast in Ramadan by virtue of a Shari'ah evidence is not required to abstain. And the opposite is the opposite: If a man breaks his fast without an excuse, breaks his fast without an excuse, and comes to ask us for a ruling, saying, "I have now broken my fast and my fast is invalid. Am I required to abstain or not?" We say, "You are required to abstain, because it is not permissible for you to break your fast. You have violated the sanctity of the day without permission from the Shari'ah, so we require you to remain abstaining and to make up the fast."