Short answer
No. Bleeding from a cut, a nosebleed, bleeding gums, a blood test or giving blood does not break the fast in the Hanafi school. It breaks only if you swallow blood that equals or outweighs your saliva. Giving a large amount of blood is disliked if it will weaken you. The Hanbali school holds that cupping (hijama) breaks the fast.
Blood leaving the body does not break the fast. Blood tests, blood donation and cupping are permitted, but makruh tanzihi if they will weaken you so much that you may not finish the fast. Swallowed blood breaks the fast when it equals or exceeds the saliva it is mixed with, or when its taste is felt in the throat.
Other madhhabs
- Hanbali
- Cupping breaks the fast of both the person cupped and the one doing it, and many Hanbali scholars apply this to giving a large amount of blood; a small blood test does not break it.
Explanation
The fast is broken by what goes in, not by what comes out, apart from a few things such as deliberate vomiting and ejaculation. Ibn Abbas reported that the Prophet ﷺ was cupped while he was fasting, which the Hanafi, Maliki and Shafi'i schools take as proof that losing blood does not break the fast.
- Cuts, grazes and nosebleeds: fast is valid. Spit out any blood that reaches your mouth.
- Bleeding gums or a tooth extraction: fast is valid, unless you swallow blood that is more than your saliva.
- A routine blood test: fast is valid.
- Giving blood: fast is valid, but if it will make you weak, give it after iftar.
- Hijama: fast is valid in the Hanafi school, but it is better done at night.
The Hanbali school relies on the hadith in which the Prophet ﷺ said the cupper and the cupped have broken their fast. The other schools hold that this was abrogated by the later report of Ibn Abbas, or that it meant they had exposed their fast to being lost through weakness. Out of respect for this difference, many people book hijama and blood donation after iftar.
Bleeding from a period or after childbirth has its own rules, which are covered in the women section. For dental treatment, see also does brushing teeth break your fast.
The evidence
Quran, Surah Al-Baqara 2:187
أُحِلَّ لَكُمْ لَيْلَةَ ٱلصِّيَامِ ٱلرَّفَثُ إِلَىٰ نِسَآئِكُمْ ۚ هُنَّ لِبَاسٌۭ لَّكُمْ وَأَنتُمْ لِبَاسٌۭ لَّهُنَّ ۗ عَلِمَ ٱللَّهُ أَنَّكُمْ كُنتُمْ تَخْتَانُونَ أَنفُسَكُمْ فَتَابَ عَلَيْكُمْ وَعَفَا عَنكُمْ ۖ فَٱلْـَٰٔنَ بَٰشِرُوهُنَّ وَٱبْتَغُوا۟ مَا كَتَبَ ٱللَّهُ لَكُمْ ۚ وَكُلُوا۟ وَٱشْرَبُوا۟ حَتَّىٰ يَتَبَيَّنَ لَكُمُ ٱلْخَيْطُ ٱلْأَبْيَضُ مِنَ ٱلْخَيْطِ ٱلْأَسْوَدِ مِنَ ٱلْفَجْرِ ۖ ثُمَّ أَتِمُّوا۟ ٱلصِّيَامَ إِلَى ٱلَّيْلِ ۚ وَلَا تُبَٰشِرُوهُنَّ وَأَنتُمْ عَٰكِفُونَ فِى ٱلْمَسَٰجِدِ ۗ تِلْكَ حُدُودُ ٱللَّهِ فَلَا تَقْرَبُوهَا ۗ كَذَٰلِكَ يُبَيِّنُ ٱللَّهُ ءَايَٰتِهِۦ لِلنَّاسِ لَعَلَّهُمْ يَتَّقُونَ ﴿١٨٧﴾
It has been made permissible for you the night preceding fasting to go to your wives [for sexual relations]. They are clothing for you and you are clothing for them. Allah knows that you used to deceive yourselves, so He accepted your repentance and forgave you. So now, have relations with them and seek that which Allah has decreed for you. And eat and drink until the white thread of dawn becomes distinct to you from the black thread [of night]. Then complete the fast until the sunset. And do not have relations with them as long as you are staying for worship in the mosques. These are the limits [set by] Allah, so do not approach them. Thus does Allah make clear His ordinances to the people that they may become righteous.
The things the fast holds back from are eating, drinking and intercourse; bleeding is not among them.
Sahih al-Bukhari 1938
Sahih... احتجم وهو محرم واحتجم وهو صائم ...
"The Prophet ﷺ was cupped while in ihram, and he was cupped while fasting."
Drawing blood does not break the fast, according to the Hanafi, Maliki and Shafi'i schools.
Sunan Abi Dawud 2367
Graded sahih... أفطر الحاجم والمحجوم ...
"The one who cups and the one who is cupped have broken their fast."
The basis of the Hanbali view; the majority read it as abrogated or as a warning about weakness.
Where the ruling is recorded
- al-Durr al-Mukhtar, Kitab al-Sawm, chapter on what breaks the fast and what does not. Cupping does not break the fast; it is disliked only when it weakens the person.
- Radd al-Muhtar (Ibn Abidin), Kitab al-Sawm, chapter on what breaks the fast and what does not. Blood swallowed with saliva breaks the fast when it is equal or greater, or its taste is found.
- al-Mughni (Ibn Qudama), Kitab al-Siyam, section on cupping. The Hanbali view that cupping breaks the fast of both parties.
This answer is pending review by the scholars on our team. Quran translation by Sahih International. Hadith Arabic from the standard editions of the six books and the Muwatta, with gradings as recorded there; the English is our own rendering. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.