rescue him until he drinks. We say: Drink, and rescue him.
- Extinguishing a fire: for example, if he says, “I cannot put out the fire until I drink,” we say: Drink, and put out the fire.
In this case, once he has rescued the drowning person and extinguished the fire, may he eat and drink for the remainder of the day?
The answer is: Yes, he may eat and drink for the rest of the day, because he has been permitted to break his fast on that day. Once he has been permitted to break his fast on that day, that day becomes, in his case, one of the days on which abstaining is not obligatory. He therefore remains not fasting until sunset.
- Likewise, if a person’s blood is needed—for instance, another man has been injured in an accident and has lost blood, and they say, “This fasting person’s blood is suitable for him, and if this patient is not treated before sunset, he will die”—then he may permit his blood to be drawn in order to save the patient. In this case, according to the stronger view, he breaks his fast, on the basis that whatever is equivalent to cupping takes the same ruling. The disagreement on this issue will be discussed later: the established school holds that drawing blood does not break the fast except through cupping alone, not through venesection or incision. The correct view is that whatever carries the same meaning takes the same ruling.
Note: The author’s statement—may Allah have mercy on him—“They should feed one needy person for each day.”
Its apparent meaning is that feeding is obligatory upon the pregnant and nursing women, and this is also the apparent meaning of the report from Ibn Abbas—may Allah be pleased with them both.
The established school holds that feeding is obligatory upon the person responsible for financial maintenance. Thus, for example,