Can a Person Diagnosed With Multiple Sclerosis Break Their Fast?
Hanafi Fiqh
Answered by Mawlana Ilyas Patel
Question
My mother has been diagnosed with M.S. (multiple sclerosis) and has wanted to break her fast(s) recently. I told her it might be haram because she doesn’t take any medication, nor do we have a doctor yet. She can’t break her fast. But my mother told me that breaking her fast is permissible because it’s between her and Allah Most High.
Her symptoms are vision loss, pain, fatigue, and impaired coordination. If any of your brothers/sisters have a correct answer to why she can break/not break her fast, please answer this post.
Answer
In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate
Allah Most High, give her a cure, find her treatment, and ease her situation, amin.
Your mother can break her fast or not keep the fast altogether due to her condition. Multiple Sclerosis is a debilitating and painful illness. She would only know about the pain and suffering she goes through. [Ibn ‘Abidin, Radd al-Muhtar]
Please read the links below for a deeper understanding of fasting and related issues.
Related Answers
Long-Term Illness that Prevents Fasting – SeekersGuidance
How Can I Benefit From Ramadan When I Can’t Fast Due to Being Ill? – SeekersGuidance
The Complete Guide to Fasting – SeekersGuidance
A Ramadan Reader: A Comprehensive Answers Guide to Getting the Most Out of Ramadan – SeekersGuidance
Why not begin your search for knowledge by signing up for a course on SeekersAcademy (seekersguidance.org)
I pray this helps with your question.
[Mawlana] Ilyas Patel
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
Mawlana Ilyas Patel is a traditionally-trained scholar who has studied in the UK, India, Pakistan, Syria, Jordan, and Turkey.
He started his early education in the UK. He went on to complete hifz of the Quran in India, then enrolled into an Islamic seminary in the UK, where he studied the secular and Alimiyyah sciences. He then traveled to Karachi, Pakistan.
He has been an Imam in Rep of Ireland for a number of years. He has taught hifz of the Qur’an, Tajwid, Fiqh, and many other Islamic sciences to both children and adults onsite and online extensively in UK and Ireland. He was teaching at a local Islamic seminary for 12 years in the UK, where he was a librarian and a teacher of Islamic sciences.
