Enemas Break the Fast

Q: Do enemas or inserting substances into the anus break the fast?

A: Yes. Administering an enema into the anus invalidates the fast.

If a person performs iḥtiqān (administers an enema) into the rectum, his fast is invalidated because the substance reaches the internal body cavity (al-jawf). The ruling rests on the principle that anything deliberately introduced through a passageway to the interior of the body breaks the fast.

An unusual route is treated like a usual one with respect to what reaches the internal cavity. Rather, rectal insertion is even more direct and more effective in reaching the interior than nasal administration (istiʿāṭ), which is known to invalidate the fast when it reaches the internal cavity.

Accordingly, enemas and similar rectal insertions invalidate the fast due to deliberate internal delivery.

Sharh al-Muntaha, Kashshaf al-Qina, and Sharh Ghayat al-Muntaha