Does an IV drip break the fast?

Detailed answer

An intravenous (IV) drip that feeds or hydrates the body, such as glucose or rehydration fluids, breaks the fast according to most contemporary scholars. A drip or cannula used only to give medicine, an injection or a contrast dye, without feeding or hydrating the body, does not break it.

Why the difference?

The fast is holding back from food and drink from dawn until sunset (Al-Baqarah 2:187). A nourishing drip does the work of food and drink: it keeps a person going without eating. For that reason most scholars and fiqh councils today treat it as breaking the fast. Ordinary injections of medicine do not nourish, so they do not break the fast; see injections while fasting.

Some scholars hold that nothing given through a vein breaks the fast, because it does not pass through the mouth or stomach; if you are unsure, ask a trusted local scholar.

In practice

Someone who needs a drip is usually ill, and the sick are excused from fasting. Allah says: "whoever among you is ill or on a journey, then an equal number of other days" (Al-Baqarah 2:184). So the question often matters less than it seems:

• If the patient needs a nourishing drip, they accept it, do not fast that day and make it up when they recover.
• If they only receive medicine through a cannula and feel well enough, they can continue fasting.
• If the illness is long-term and they will never be able to fast, they give fidya instead; see chronic illness and fasting.

Important

Never refuse or delay a drip that doctors say is needed in order to keep a fast. Islam puts the protection of life and health first: "Allah intends ease for you and does not intend hardship for you" (Al-Baqarah 2:185). Follow the doctor's advice, ideally a doctor who understands fasting, and make up the day later without guilt.

Tips

• Ask the nurse what is in the drip: medicine only, or fluids and nutrition.
• Keep a note of the days missed so they can be made up after Ramadan.