There is no obligation to stop eating 15-20 minutes before Fajr. One may eat and drink until the actual entrance of true dawn.

The ruling returns to a broader principle: if a person deliberately causes something to enter his internal cavity (al-jawf), or any hollow space within the body, the fast is invalidated.

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 rulings differ between ordinary saliva and phlegm.

Eye drops, ear drops, and nasal sprays invalidate the fast if the substance is tasted in the throat or known to reach the internal cavity.

Using an inhaler that delivers a substance into the throat invalidates the fast.

If the adhān is called accurately at the time of true dawn, one must stop eating and drinking immediately. It is not permitted to intentionally ingest anything after that moment.

Toothpaste is closest in ruling to chewing gum that partially dissolves in the mouth, which is impermissible while fasting and invalidates the fast if its flavor reaches the throat.

If a person does not form the intention to fast before Fajr, the fast is not valid.

Once the crescent of Ramadan is sighted anywhere and that sighting is established by a valid witness, fasting becomes obligatory upon all Muslims. Local horizons are not considered after a confirmed sighting has been reported.

Simply resolving in one’s heart that “I will fast tomorrow for Ramadan” is sufficient.

In the Hanbali school, a separate, specific intention is required for each day of obligatory fasting in Ramadan, and it must be made during the night i.e. between the adhan of Maghrib and the adhan of Fajr .

In the Hanbali school, there is no valid opinion that permits astronomical calculation as method for establishing Ramadan, even for the sake of unifying the Ummah or making scheduling easier.

If the horizon is blocked by clouds or similar obstruction on the 30th night of Shaʿbān, the following day is fasted with the intention that it is Ramaḍān, as a precaution.

Outstanding Ramaḍān fasts must be made up in Shaʿbān when delaying would carry them into the next Ramaḍān.

Fasting after the 15th of Shaʿbān is not prohibited in the Hanbali school. What is disliked is singling out one or two days immediately before Ramaḍān without a valid reason. Fasting earlier than that, or for habitual, compensatory, vowed, or expiatory reasons, remains permissible.

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