What is the ruling on enemas given to a sick person when he is fasting?


Praise be to Allaah.
 

Concerning enemas which
are given to sick people to counteract constipation, there is a difference
of opinion among the scholars. Some say that it does break the fast, based
on the fact that everything that reaches inside the digestive tract breaks
the fast. And some of them said that it does not break the fast. Among those
who said that was Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah, who said that this is not
food or drink, and it is not like food or drink. 

What I think is that we
should look at the doctors’ opinions concerning that; if they say that this
is like food or drink then it should be classified as such and thus it
breaks the fast. If they say that this does not give the body what food and
drink give it, then it does not break the fast.