Use of Inhalers during Fasting (Hanafi Madhab)

[Abu_Bilal]

Asslamo Allaikum,

Is there any dispensation for using Inhalers for Asthmatics during Ramadhan?

1) Modern Inhalers contain gases which go into the respiratory tract and not the digestive tract. Most previous Fatwaas are over 50 years old and based on old Inahlers.

2) Some Ulama use the analogy of cigarettes (smoke entering the throat etc.) but is that a correct analogy to apply to Inhalers?

3) I have heard that Shaykh Abu Yusuf Riyadhul-Haq permits it but not sure???

Jazakullah Khairun

Walikus-us-salam.

I have looked up this issue in fatawa books, and also looked at modern fatawas by muftis.

Since the inhaler contains a medication, which is called salbutamol or something like that, the use of it in the state of fasting will invalidate the fast.

If a person gets the attack during fasting, and there is no adequate alternative which does not break the fast, then that person may use the inhaler and make the "qadhaa" for that fast later.

[Abu_Bilal]

I would appreciate evidence that inhalation breaks one's fast.

Inhalers contain medicine, and intake of medicine breaks fast.

[Colonel_Hardstone]

Walikus-us-salam.

I have looked up this issue in fatawa books, and also looked at modern fatawas by muftis.

Since the inhaler contains a medication, which is called salbutamol or something like that, the use of it in the state of fasting will invalidate the fast.

If a person gets the attack during fasting, and there is no adequate alternative which does not break the fast, then that person may use the inhaler and make the "qadhaa" for that fast later.

Inhalers contain medicine, and intake of medicine breaks fast.

Asslamo Allaikum Muhammed Ali Saheb,

Breaking of fast simply on the basis of Salbutamol (or Ventolin) as medicine doesn't make any sense because Salbutamol (or Ventolin) can be taken as an injection & that won't break the fast. In both cases it is still medicine.

Mufti Saheb is giving the Fatwa of Inhalers breaking the fast because of the similarity with smoking and the deliberate nature of the action so in his argument its not the medicine but the way of delivery (Inhaler) which is the crux of the matter.

Waiting for Oscar-Mike to reply to see what his exact argument is???

Jazakullah Khairun

[Abu_Bilal]

Breaking of fast simply on the basis of Salbutamol (or Ventolin) as medicine doesn't make any sense because Salbutamol (or Ventolin) can be taken as an injection & that won't break the fast. In both cases it is still medicine.

Well, the issue of injections is a totally seperate thing.

If the medicine from injection, reaches the "halaq" or "dimagh", it breaks your fast. Since that does not happen with most injections, therefore injections do not break the fast. And the injection is applied to your arm, or leg. You do not drink the injection.

However, inhaling/eating/drinking a medicine is totally different thing, which, of course breaks the fast. This is my little research, and the fatwa of almost all the muftis of Pakistan.

And, i looked the issue in the famous book called "Maraqi al-Falah", it says .. "one's fast is invalidated by inhaling something that has a perceptible body such as smoke or gas. (See: Maraqi al-Falah , P: 660)".

Therefore, anything that has a perceptible body breaks the fast if it enters the body through a normal channel.

[Abu_Bilal]

I have attached a fatwa from Darululoom Deoband.

The fatwa refers the major fiqh books like "Hidaya" and "Fathul-Taqdeer".

[loveProphet]

Marifah has a good article on cannabis according to the Hanafis.

[andy8118]

Assalamu alaykum WR WB,

Tha Shafi'i stance (as my little mind understands it when it was taught):

"(2) drinking (N: and smoking (A: though not if there is some smoke in the air that one unintentionally inhales));

...

(14) allowing phlegm or mucus at the back of the mouth to be swallowed when one could have spit them out (n: though in the Hanafi school this does not break the fast, even if intentional (al-Hadiyya al-`Ala'yya (y4), 180))"

(Reliance of the Traveller i1.18)

What is the difference between the smoke in the air and the smoke in cigarettes?

2 things - a) the cigarette having 'material' smoke (which my shaykh was not satisfied with, so mentioned the next point) b) inhaling smoke in the air is involuntary and normal breathing whereas the smoking of cigarettes is voluntary and intentionallly taking in of that material smoke.

The inhaler does break your fast (as a shafi') as the gas in it has taste and some liquid that is taken in thorugh an orophous and reaches the body cavity.

The needle doesn't break your fast (fil aswah) because it is not entering through an orophous and does not reach the body cavity (immediately). There is a reltively recent fatwa about eyedrops don't break our fast even though they sometimes leave a bitter taste in the back of the mouth/throat and this would indicate it going down the same channel as point 14 abovementioned. However as the eye and eye ducts are not an orophous, the fast is still valid. WALLAHU 'alam.

Wasalam

[andy8118]

...The halal and the haram are explicitly clear...

This hadith is usually suficient to squash DIY mujtahids of today because the hadith is clear that some people do know the right and wrong in those 'unclear' matters. Thus Umar (RA) was give the title al-Faruq due to this ability. The Hadith is evidence that in relying on those who, you will be saved.

So brother Oscar-Mike i advise that whatever the scholars have held hold onto that and you will be in the clear.

Shafi'i position - try and use the inhaler in the times permissible. And if the attack comes on strong whilst fasting, use the dispensation of excusable breaking of the fast, and make it up later...

Wasalam

ps - i realise this is about ahnafs, but maybe the shafi'i explanation may help...

[Rasheed786]

Assalamualaikum
Q.Whilst fasting which of the following break the fast and which do not, Eye drops, eardrops, nose drops, and asthma inhaler?

I am an Aalim working in a hospital here in the U.K. I am preparing a fact sheet for Muslim Patients about medication during Ramadhan. I am aware of the Fataawa our Ulama and Mufti Sahebs have given saying: Eye drops do not break fast. Eardrops do break fast. Nose drops do break fast. Asthma Inhaler does break fast. The problem I face is that in another hospital, a similar guidance sheet was issued to Muslims and the Imam there gave advice that it is O.K. to take all of the above during Fast. I decided to look into this further. As I understand it, the underlying principle is that anything which benefits the stomach will break the fast, (correct me if I?m wrong). I?ve asked a few practicing Muslim Dr.?s and they say, ?Our Fatwa regarding Ear drops does not make sense as it has no connection with the stomach, therefore it should not break the fast.? ?The Fatwa regarding eye drops does not make sense as it has a connection or a passage to the stomach, therefore should break the fast.? ?The Fatwa regarding the salbutamol inhaler does not make sense as it goes through the throat into the veins and circulates in the blood and does not benefit the stomach, therefore should not break the fast.?

---

A.In order to clearly understand the response to your query, one needs to understand that some Jurists, after much consideration and research, have concluded that when any liquid, food or medicine reaches, ingests and settles in one of the three considered cavaties of the human body viz. the throat, the stomach, the intestines, nullifies the fast.

It is important to note that the Jurists have also identified other apertures and pathways which lead to any of the above three major cavaties.

Some of these apertures are the ears, nose, and the anal aperture. Of note is the fact that the medical profession has a slight disagreement with the Fuqaha with regards to:-

* The ear: whilst some Jurists considered the outer ear to have a direct pathway to the throat, subsequently reaching the stomach, the E.N.T experts are of the opinion that there is no link. Their view is that the only time when any liquid will pass through from the outer ear to the middle ear is when the tympanic membrane (eardrum) is perforated. *

Regarding this difference, contemporary Jurists like Mufti Rafi Uthmani (D.B) strongly advise that the views of the E.N.T experts of our time be accepted, since there is no certainty with regards to the ear having a passage to the throat. We should therefore refer this matter to the medical experts. (Refer to Dhaabitul-mufattiraat fi majaalit-tadaawi p.g 54)

* The eyes: the medical profession clearly state that a narrow duct links up the eye cavity with the throat via the nose. Regarding this difference
Hazrat Mufti Rafi Uthmani Saheb explains that:- = Ahadith have proven that the use of surma and/or eye drops does not nullify the fast. (One should bear in mind that after something is clearly proven from the Quraan or the Ahaadith, one is oblidged to accept it whether it makes sense to him or not) additionally, this duct is so narrow that whatever passes through it from the eye is (insignifant and) negligible. ( Ibid pg.59)

As far as the inhaler is concerned, in the light of the above one can safely conclude that all medication taken by inhalation necessarily pass through the throat before they eventually settle in the lungs, thus nullifying the fast

Additionally, some of this medication also finds its way to the stomach.

and Allah Ta'ala Knows Best

Moulana Na'eem Motala
for: FATWA DEPT.

CHECKED AND APPROVED CORRECT: Mufti Ebrahim Desai

[simplemuslim]

Assalaamo Alaikum
I am a doctor & I am wondering that if something that passes through the throat & settles in lungs nullifies fast, than what about the air we breath, or the smoke & dust we inhale all the time? I request you to consider this aspect before declaring Inhaler for asthma as non permissible in fasting. In my humble opinion Inhaler is in vapour form, it does not provide any material for ingestion of that goes to the stomach, therefore it may be allowed. Further more allowing use of inhaler will allow many asthma patients to fast which they will be unable to do without the inhaler.
May Allah guide us all to the right path