Medical Advice
Medical Advice
Every woman, every pregnancy and every baby have individual needs and may need assessment from health professionals when determining whether or not to fast.
Here we present advice from supportive doctors with diverse personal experiences of women fasting Ramadan in the U.K.
We thought it valuable to include this advice as many health professionals blanket advise against fasting in pregnancy.
For anyone with concerns, we'd urge you to seek advice from God-fearing Muslim health professionals, and to share our work with your doctors and midwives.
We conclude with one of the authors of the official advice published in the British Medical Journal (2022), aimed at health professionals.
"I've had the pleasure of working with Hafsah and Umm Hasan since 2013 when they first had this wonderful idea. They've done an incredible job updating this resource every year, collating evidence from Islamic sources, reviewing recent publications in the scientific literature, and hearing the personal experiences and stories of pregnant and breastfeeding women fasting - or not! - in Ramadhan.
The British Islamic Medical Association (BIMA) published a Ramadhan rapid review of the published evidence (often limited), alongside expert views and consensus for those considering fasting during Ramadhan.
I would certainly recommend this as an additional resource for pregnant or breastfeeding women considering fasting, and for clinicians and health professionals who might be in the position (as many of us are) where we might be asked by a patient whether it's safe for them to be fasting. Better still, we should be proactive with our patients who we know from previous experience might be considering fasting this Ramadhan, and explore this further with them to better support whatever decision they ultimately make in this regard."
Dr. Shameq Sayeed
Dr. Shameq Sayeed is a GP and Clinical Associate Professor in the UK with an interest in primary care and global health.
He completed his memorisation of the Quran at the age of 9, later continuing his Arabic and Islamic studies at Jame'ah Uloomul Qur'an and al-Kawthar Academy in Leicester, al-Salam Institute in Oxford & London, as well as studies in Cairo and Damascus.
He received his ijazah in the ten qira'at from Mufti Mohamed Umer Ismail, and continues to study the Islamic sciences and teach qira'at and tajweed.
"[With regards to fasting in pregnancy,] the psychological effect of mother not fasting should not be ignored… healthy meals, dates, other slow release foods for suhoor - seeds etc, hydration and maybe a maternity vitamin supplement and give it a go.
[And fasting whilst breastfeeding for] Western women with a western diet & reserves shouldn't really cause any major problems…. hydrate between maghrib and fajr and eat a healthy balanced meal with protein etc. not just fried food! Also [add a] suitable vitamin supplement and fresh fruit, veg and dates to help inshaAllah."
Dr. Umm Safiyyah
"With regards to general advice, it is safe to fast in pregnancy. With regards to the advice re: preeclampsia, gest. diabetes, I don't think you will find that the advice would be to fast- generally it would be very case specific."
Dr. Ahsan Alvi
"For most people it is not possible to consult a God fearing Muslim health care practitioner who understands the fiqh of fasting, so, for a long time, a comprehensive, widely available and accessible resource was needed to help guide HCPs.
With Hafsah's and Umm Hasan's extensive research we were able to collate this information in a BMJ paper (Ammad et al., 2022, 'Advising patients with existing conditions about fasting during Ramadan') for HCPs to give appropriate advice to breastfeeding and pregnant patients so they can make shared decisions on fasting.
Dr. Sahira Dar