Salafi fatwa: Forbidden for high school students to break fast during exams in Ramadan

Hatem El Howainy, the Salafist preacher and son of famous preacher Abou Ishaq El Howainy issued a fatwa that forbids high school students from breaking their fast during their exams in Ramadan.  In response to a question regarding the permission of breaking a fast for high school students during their examinations, El Howainy the son stated that this is not a legitimate excuse and breaking the fast during Ramadan without a legitimate excuse is one of the major sins.   

El Howainy supported Sheikh Mostafa El Azhary, the young Azhar preacher who had also stressed that it is forbidden for high school students to break their fast in Ramadan during their examinations.  He assured that as mentioned in the Qoran, the only cases that permit breaking a fast in Ramadan are sickness and travel. 

In a statement to Al Bawaba News, El Azhary added that students are not permitted to break their fast during examinations unless fasting exhausts them and proves to be detrimental to their health. He stated that this is because Islamic Sharia does not permit breaking a fast if it lessens intellectual output, but only if it affects the body and its general health.  The fact that fasting negatively affects the thought process is not true, hence, an Islamic ruling cannot be made on a fact that is not true.