I vomited involuntarily while fasting. Do I have to make the day up?
No. Involuntary vomiting does not break the fast; only making yourself vomit does. If something goes back down without your intending it, that does not count either. Rinse your mouth and carry on with the day as normal.
The four schools concur on this.
The distinction that decides this question is the one that decides nearly every Ramadan question: between what you do and what happens to you.
- Involuntary vomiting: the fast remains valid. The day is not made up.
- Deliberately induced vomiting: breaks the fast, and that day is made up.
- Unintentionally swallowing something that comes up: does not invalidate.
The general principle that covers it: “Allah does not charge a soul except with that within its capacity. It will have the consequence of what good it has gained, and it will bear the consequence of what evil it has earned. "Our Lord, do not impose blame upon us if we have forgotten or erred. Our Lord, and lay not upon us a burden like that which You laid upon those before us. Our Lord, and burden us not with that which we have no ability to bear. And pardon us; and forgive us; and have mercy upon us. You are our protector, so give us victory over the disbelieving people."” (Qur’an 2:286)
This applies equally to dizziness, reflux and the nausea of pregnancy, which worries many women in their first practising Ramadan. Vomiting because your body does it is not an act of yours.
Two practical notes. If you vomit and then feel weak, eating is not forbidden: illness is a recognised dispensation and the day is made up later. Nobody should force a fast that is doing them harm; that is precisely the case the law provided for.
And if you are unsure whether it was voluntary, the rule is that certainty is not lifted by a doubt: you started from a valid fast, so it stays valid.
- Qur’anQur’an 2:286