Short answer
If you deliberately eat, drink or have intercourse during a Ramadan fast without a valid excuse, the Hanafi school requires sincere repentance, one day of qada and kaffarah: fasting sixty days in a row, or feeding sixty poor people if you truly cannot fast. The Shafi'i and Hanbali schools require kaffarah only for intercourse.
Deliberately breaking a valid Ramadan fast, intended from the night, by eating, drinking or intercourse without excuse is a major sin requiring tawbah, qada of the day and kaffarah: sixty consecutive days of fasting, or if unable, feeding sixty poor people. Breaking a qada, vowed or voluntary fast requires qada of one day only. One kaffarah can cover several days broken in the same Ramadan if none was paid in between.
Other madhhabs
- Shafi'i
- Kaffarah is due only for intercourse during a Ramadan fast; deliberate eating or drinking requires qada and repentance.
- Hanbali
- Kaffarah is due only for intercourse during a Ramadan fast; deliberate eating or drinking requires qada and repentance.
Explanation
A man came to the Prophet ﷺ saying he was ruined because he had had intercourse with his wife while fasting in Ramadan. He was told to free a slave, and if he could not, to fast two consecutive months, and if he could not, to feed sixty poor people. The Hanafi and Maliki schools apply this kaffarah to deliberate eating and drinking as well, since they violate the fast in the same way.
How kaffarah works today:
- Fast sixty days in a row. If you miss a day without a valid reason, you start again. A woman's period does not break the sequence.
- Only if you genuinely cannot fast, for example through illness or old age, feed sixty poor people two full meals each, or give each the value of a sadaqat al-fitr.
- Make up the broken day itself as well.
- The kaffarah calculator works out the amounts.
When only qada is due. Kaffarah is not due if you broke the fast for a valid reason such as illness or travel, by mistake, by deliberate vomiting, by swallowing something that is not food or medicine, or if it was a qada or voluntary fast. Whatever the case, you must hold back from food for the rest of that Ramadan day.
Repent sincerely, and do not let shame stop you from fixing it. Because the details depend on what happened and when, ask a qualified mufti about your own case. See also what is fidya for how fidya differs from kaffarah.
Ask a mufti about your own case. This answer explains the general ruling. When the details of your situation matter, as they do here, ask a qualified mufti and give them the full facts. Where to ask a scholar.
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.
Allah commands the fast to be completed until sunset, so deliberately cutting it short is a violation.
Sahih al-Bukhari 1936
Sahih... فهل تستطيع أن تصوم شهرين متتابعين ...
"Then can you fast two consecutive months?"
It sets out the kaffarah for deliberately breaking a Ramadan fast.
Where the ruling is recorded
- al-Hidaya, Kitab al-Sawm, chapter on what requires qada and kaffarah. Deliberate eating, drinking or intercourse in a Ramadan fast requires qada and kaffarah as in the kaffarah of zihar.
- al-Durr al-Mukhtar, Kitab al-Sawm, chapter on what breaks the fast and what does not. Kaffarahs for several days of the same Ramadan overlap when none was performed in between.
- Minhaj al-Talibin, Kitab al-Siyam, section on kaffarah. The Shafi'i view that kaffarah is for intercourse in a Ramadan fast only.
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.