Miftah-ul-Janna (Booklet for way to Paradise)

fasting) by night or any time before the time called Dahwa-ikubrâ,
it is not halâl for him to break his fast during that day. If he
breaks his fast, he will only have to make qadâ of it, (i.e. he will
have to fast for one day after the blessed month of Ramadân.)
What a long-distance journey makes mubâh is: ‘not to start a
(daily) fast’.
If a person loses his mind during Ramadân, so that he cannot
fast, and recovers afterwards, he makes qadâ of the days whereon
he failed to fast. If he does not recover throughout Ramadân, so
that his mental disorder lingers, then he becomes absolved from
that Ramadân’s fast.
If a person forgets that he is observing fast and breaks his fast,
his fast does not become fâsid (nullified). If he remembers that he
is observing fast but goes on eating because he thinks that his fast
has become fâsid, then he will have to make qadâ of it (after
Ramadân). Kaffârat will not be necessary. However, if he goes on
eating although he knows that his fast has not become fâsid, then
he will have to make both qadâ and kaffârat.
If a fasting person swallows his own sweat or chews a dyed
piece of string and then swallows the dye on it or swallows
someone else’s saliva or swallows his own saliva after having let it
leave his mouth or swallows a food remain between his teeth and
bigger than a chickpea or injects himself with a hypodermic
medicine, his fast becomes nullified and he will only have to make
qadâ.
If a person eats a piece of paper or a handful of salt or swallows
a grain of raw wheat or rice, his fast becomes nullified. However,
he will only have to make qadâ. For, it is not customary to eat a
handful of salt, neither as food, nor as medicine. It is like a handful
of soil. On the other hand, if the salt eaten is a small amount, then
kaffârat also will be necessary. This is written in the book entitled
Eshbâh. For, a small amount of salt is used both as food and as
medicine.
If a worker knows that he will fall ill as he works for a living, it
(still) is not permissible for him to break his fast before he
becomes ill. If he breaks his fast (before the time of iftâr), he will
have to make kaffârat. To avoid (having to make) kaffârat, he
should swallow a piece of paper first, (i.e. before eating
something.) If a pregnant woman or a breastfeeding woman feels
too weak (–with hunger, thirst, etc.– to go the distance with her
fasting) eats (or drinks), she will only have to make qadâ. A person
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