It is Ramadan, and the sun is high in the sky. Imagine you are fasting, and you walk into the kitchen. Mama has just baked a tray of her delicious homemade cookies, and the whole house smells warm and sweet. Without thinking, you pick one up and take a bite. Then you remember: “Oh no! I am fasting!”
Something like this happened to a man at the time of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ. He came to the Prophet worried and said, “O Messenger of Allah, I ate and drank because I forgot that I was fasting.”
The Prophet ﷺ did not tell him off. He answered gently, “Allah fed you and gave you drink.”
The Prophet ﷺ taught that whoever forgets they are fasting and eats or drinks should carry on and finish their fast, because it was Allah who fed them and gave them drink.
So the man’s fast still counted. Forgetting is not the same as choosing. Allah knows what is in our hearts, and He is kind to us when we make an honest mistake.
But once you remember, you stop straight away. Put the cookie down, smile, say “Alhamdulillah”, and keep going until the sunset.
Allah does not ask us to be perfect. When we forget, He is gentle with us. When we remember, we do our best. That is how a Muslim fasts: with an honest heart, trusting that Allah is kind.
From a hadith narrated by Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him), recorded in Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim. The man’s question to the Prophet ﷺ is recorded in Sunan Abi Dawud.