By extension, the same principle applies to drawing blood through cupping, venesection, and the like. Scholars disagree over whether cupping breaks the fast. There are numerous hadiths reporting the Prophet’s statement (peace and blessings be upon him):

“Both the cupper and the person cupped have broken their fast.”

The leading hadith masters have discussed these reports in detail. Several Companions disapproved of cupping for someone who was fasting, and some would undergo cupping only at night. When Ramadan began, the people of Basra would close the cuppers’ shops. The view that cupping breaks the fast is held by most jurists versed in hadith, such as Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Ishāq ibn Rāhawayh, Ibn Khuzaymah, Ibn al-Mundhir, and others. Hadith scholars who understand hadith deeply and act upon it are foremost in following Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him).

Those who did not consider the fast of the person cupped to be broken relied on the report established in the Sahīh:

“The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) underwent cupping while fasting and in ihrām (the consecrated state for pilgrimage).”

Ahmad and others challenged the additional wording, “while fasting,” and said: “What is established is that he underwent cupping while in ihrām.” Ahmad said that Yahyā ibn Saʿīd reported that Shuʿbah said: “Al-Hakam did not hear Miqsam’s hadith concerning cupping for a fasting person.” This refers to the hadith narrated by Shuʿbah, from al-Hakam, from Miqsam, from Ibn ʿAbbās:

“The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) underwent cupping while fasting and in ihrām.”