Can I take medicine while fasting?
It depends on the type of medicine. Swallowing pills, syrups or capsules during the day breaks the fast, but many other treatments, like injections, eye drops, creams and patches, do not. If you are ill and need tablets during the day, Islam allows you to skip the fast and make it up later.
Medicine you swallow
Pills, capsules, syrups and anything else you swallow reach the stomach, so all four schools agree they break the fast, just like food and drink. If you take them during fasting hours on purpose, that day has to be made up.
The good news: many daily medicines can be moved to suhoor and iftar. Once-a-day or twice-a-day tablets often fit easily into the hours between sunset and dawn. See What time do I start and stop fasting in Ramadan?
Medicine that usually doesn't break the fast
Most contemporary scholars, including the International Islamic Fiqh Academy, say these do not break the fast:
- Injections that are not nutrition (insulin, vaccines, antibiotics, painkillers).
- Skin creams, ointments and medicine patches absorbed through the skin.
- Eye drops and ear drops (if the eardrum is intact).
- Tablets placed under the tongue for chest pain, as long as you don't swallow them.
- Asthma inhalers, for the majority of scholars today.
Some older Hanafi and other rulings are stricter on drops and inhalers, so you may hear different answers. Both sides are trying to apply the same principle: what reaches the stomach through a normal opening breaks the fast.
When you're ill, you have a choice
If you are sick and need medicine during the day, you don't have to fast. The Quran gives an exemption to anyone who is ill or travelling:
A short illness means you make up the missed days later. A long-term condition where fasting is never possible means you pay fidyah (feeding a poor person for each day) instead. See Do I have to fast during Ramadan if I have diabetes? and Can I skip fasting because of a mental illness?
Talk to your doctor first
Never stop or change your medication on your own to keep a fast. Talk to your doctor or pharmacist a few weeks before Ramadan. Many of them are used to this question and can switch timings or forms of a medicine for you. If they say fasting is risky for you, following that advice is part of your religion, not a failure of it.
- Swallowed medicine (pills, syrups) breaks the fast.
- Most injections, creams, patches and drops do not, for most scholars today.
- If you're ill and need daytime tablets, skip the fast and make it up later.
- Check timings with your doctor before Ramadan; never stop medicine on your own.
People also ask
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