“Or he thinks and ejaculates, or has a wet dream, or reaches the morning with food in his mouth and spits it out …”

His statement, “Or he thinks and ejaculates,” means that he thinks about sexual intercourse and then ejaculates—whether he has a wife and thinks about intercourse with his wife, or he has no wife and thinks about intercourse in general. If he then ejaculates, his fast is not invalidated by this.

The evidence for this is the Prophet’s ﷺ statement: “Allah has pardoned my nation for what their souls whisper to them, so long as they do not act upon it or speak of it.” (1) This person neither acted nor spoke; rather, he merely entertained the thought and reflected upon it, then ejaculated.

It is understood from his words, “He thinks and ejaculates,” that if he does something, then his fast is invalidated—for example, if he rubs himself against the ground until he ejaculates, stimulates his penis until he ejaculates, kisses his wife until he ejaculates, or anything similar. In such cases, his fast is invalidated.

His statement, “Or he has a wet dream,” means that his fast is not invalidated, even if he fell asleep while thinking about it and had a wet dream during his sleep, because a sleeping person is not acting deliberately, and the pen has been lifted from him. At times, a person wakes up when the ejaculating fluid begins to move. In that case, is he required to hold it back?

The answer is no, because it has left its place and cannot be returned. Holding it back by pressing the penis is harmful—just as when his stomach begins to move in preparation for vomiting, he is not required to restrain it because of the harm involved.

His statement, “Or he reaches the morning with food in his mouth and spits it out,” means that his fast is not invalidated, because he did not swallow any food after dawn broke.

This may occur, for example, when a person is eating dates and has in his mouth