because reward is only earned with intention. Likewise, if someone intends to refrain from those acts for Allah’s sake, he is rewarded for doing so. If the intention to refrain from them never occurs to him, he is neither rewarded nor punished. If, however, he intends to refrain from them for Allah’s sake but does one of them forgetfully, his forgetfulness does not diminish his reward. Rather, he is rewarded for his intention to refrain from them for Allah’s sake, even though he does them forgetfully.

The same applies to fasting. What a person does forgetfully is not attributed to him; rather, Allah has brought it about in him without his intending it. Hence the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

“Whoever forgetfully eats or drinks should complete his fast, for it is Allah who has fed him and given him drink.”

He thus attributed the feeding and giving of drink to Allah, because the person neither deliberately did this nor intended it. The servant is not forbidden to do what is attributed to Allah; rather, the prohibition concerns his own actions. Involuntary acts do not fall within the scope of religious accountability. Thus, the act of someone who forgets is like the act of someone asleep, someone of unsound mind, a child, and others in comparable circumstances.

This is illustrated by the fact that a fasting person who has a wet dream while asleep does not break his fast, whereas if he deliberately brings about ejaculation, he does. Likewise, if he is overcome by vomiting, he does not break his fast, whereas if he induces vomiting, he does. If what happens without his intention were treated in the same way as what happens intentionally, his fast would be broken in both cases.

If it is said: But someone who acts under a mistaken assumption does break his fast—for example, someone who eats thinking that it is still night, only to discover that dawn has broken; or someone who eats thinking that the sun has set, only to discover that it has not.