What Should One Do About Vomit or Expectorate During Prayer?

Question

If someone regurgitates during a prayer, how would he tackle that? Is the regurgitation najis, would it break his prayer if he was to swallow it, spit it out, or keep it in his mouth until salam?

Answer

In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate.

May Allah guide every dimension of our lives to that which pleases Him.

It appears you are referring to expectoration that emanates from deep within the head or stomach, which is considered filth (najis). Swallowing this would break one’s fast and prayer if one could cough and expectorate it but did not. [Shirbini, al-Iqna‘ fi Hal Alfaz Abi Shuja‘]

You should not swallow it intentionally. Instead, you should expectorate it if you can (without carrying it since it is filth), though if you swallow it accidentally, it would not harm your prayer, and Allah knows best.

Imam Nawawi said: “The impurity of vomit is agreed upon, regardless of whether it contains the vomit of a human or other animals… and whether the vomit comes out changed [after the food has changed] or unchanged, and it was said: If it comes out unchanged, then it is pure, and this is Malik’s view. [Nawawi, al-Majmu‘ Sharh al-Muhadhdhab]

I pray this is of benefit and that Allah guides us all.
[Shaykh] Irshaad Sedick
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

Shaykh Irshaad Sedick was raised in South Africa in a traditional Muslim family. He graduated from Dar al-Ulum al-Arabiyyah al-Islamiyyah in Strand, Western Cape, under the guidance of the late world-renowned scholar Shaykh Taha Karaan.

Shaykh Irshaad received Ijaza from many luminaries of the Islamic world, including Shaykh Taha Karaan, Mawlana Yusuf Karaan, and Mawlana Abdul Hafeez Makki, among others.

He is the author of the text “The Musnad of Ahmad ibn Hanbal: A Hujjah or not?” He has served as the Director of the Discover Islam Centre and Al Jeem Foundation. For the last five years till present, he has served as the Khatib of Masjid Ar-Rashideen, Mowbray, Cape Town.

Shaykh Irshaad has thirteen years of teaching experience at some of the leading Islamic institutes in Cape Town). He is currently building an Islamic online learning and media platform called ‘Isnad Academy’ and has completed his Master’s degree in the study of Islam at the University of Johannesburg. He has a keen interest in healthy living and fitness.