Short answer
No. The Ramadan fast means no food or drink of any kind from true dawn until sunset, and that includes water, black coffee, tea and diet drinks. This is different from intermittent fasting, where water and black coffee are allowed. Drink plenty between iftar and suhoor instead.
Drinking anything on purpose during the fasting day breaks the fast; during Ramadan, without an excuse, it requires qada and kaffarah. Drinking out of forgetfulness does not break the fast. Water reaching the throat by a mistake, such as in wudu, breaks it, with qada only.
Other madhhabs
- Shafi'i, Hanbali
- Deliberate drinking breaks the fast and requires one day of qada, but no kaffarah, which is only for intercourse.
Explanation
Allah says: eat and drink until the white thread of dawn becomes distinct from the black thread, then complete the fast until the sunset. So the fast is from all food and all drink, with no exception for water. In a hadith qudsi, Allah says the fasting person leaves his food and his drink for My sake.
Not intermittent fasting. Many people know fasting from diets where black coffee, tea, water and zero-calorie drinks are allowed. Islamic fasting is different. Any of these, even a sip, breaks the fast if taken on purpose:
- Water, sparkling water and electrolyte drinks.
- Black coffee, tea and herbal tea.
- Diet or zero-sugar soda.
- Chewing gum, even sugar-free. See chewing gum.
If you forgot. If you drank because you forgot you were fasting, your fast is fine: stop as soon as you remember. See eating or drinking by mistake.
Staying hydrated. Drink steadily between iftar and suhoor rather than all at once, eat water-rich foods, and go easy on salty food and caffeine at suhoor. If dehydration makes you genuinely ill, the rules for illness apply: see skipping the fast when ill.
The evidence
Quran, Surah Al-Baqara 2:187
أُحِلَّ لَكُمْ لَيْلَةَ ٱلصِّيَامِ ٱلرَّفَثُ إِلَىٰ نِسَآئِكُمْ ۚ هُنَّ لِبَاسٌۭ لَّكُمْ وَأَنتُمْ لِبَاسٌۭ لَّهُنَّ ۗ عَلِمَ ٱللَّهُ أَنَّكُمْ كُنتُمْ تَخْتَانُونَ أَنفُسَكُمْ فَتَابَ عَلَيْكُمْ وَعَفَا عَنكُمْ ۖ فَٱلْـَٰٔنَ بَٰشِرُوهُنَّ وَٱبْتَغُوا۟ مَا كَتَبَ ٱللَّهُ لَكُمْ ۚ وَكُلُوا۟ وَٱشْرَبُوا۟ حَتَّىٰ يَتَبَيَّنَ لَكُمُ ٱلْخَيْطُ ٱلْأَبْيَضُ مِنَ ٱلْخَيْطِ ٱلْأَسْوَدِ مِنَ ٱلْفَجْرِ ۖ ثُمَّ أَتِمُّوا۟ ٱلصِّيَامَ إِلَى ٱلَّيْلِ ۚ وَلَا تُبَٰشِرُوهُنَّ وَأَنتُمْ عَٰكِفُونَ فِى ٱلْمَسَٰجِدِ ۗ تِلْكَ حُدُودُ ٱللَّهِ فَلَا تَقْرَبُوهَا ۗ كَذَٰلِكَ يُبَيِّنُ ٱللَّهُ ءَايَٰتِهِۦ لِلنَّاسِ لَعَلَّهُمْ يَتَّقُونَ ﴿١٨٧﴾
It has been made permissible for you the night preceding fasting to go to your wives [for sexual relations]. They are clothing for you and you are clothing for them. Allah knows that you used to deceive yourselves, so He accepted your repentance and forgave you. So now, have relations with them and seek that which Allah has decreed for you. And eat and drink until the white thread of dawn becomes distinct to you from the black thread [of night]. Then complete the fast until the sunset. And do not have relations with them as long as you are staying for worship in the mosques. These are the limits [set by] Allah, so do not approach them. Thus does Allah make clear His ordinances to the people that they may become righteous.
Eating and drinking of every kind stop at true dawn.
Sahih al-Bukhari 1894
Sahih... يترك طعامه وشرابه وشهوته من أجلي ...
"He leaves his food, his drink and his desire for My sake."
Drink of every kind is part of what the fasting person leaves.
Where the ruling is recorded
- al-Hidaya, Kitab al-Sawm, chapter on what requires qada and kaffarah. Deliberately eating or drinking in a Ramadan fast requires qada and kaffarah.
- Radd al-Muhtar (Ibn Abidin), Kitab al-Sawm, chapter on what breaks the fast and what does not. Water that goes down the throat by a mistake, as in rinsing the mouth, breaks the fast with qada only.
Checked by our team. For a more accurate answer to your own situation, consult a scholar. Quran translation by Sahih International. Hadith Arabic from the standard editions of the six books and the Muwatta, with gradings as recorded there; the English is our own rendering. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.