Does Intentionally Swallowing a Solid Mucus That Enters One’s Throat Invalidate Fast?
Hanafi Fiqh
Answered by Mawlana Ilyas Patel
Question
I sniffed solidified mucus (i.e., snot) from my nose, which went directly down my throat/entered my mouth and was intentionally swallowed. Is it going to break my fast?
Answer
In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate.
I pray you are in good faith and health.
Solidified mucus and snot are considered unavoidable substances and do not invalidate one’s fast, even if done intentionally. This is because one is not entering anything into the body cavity, which would break the fast.
However, one should avoid this from happening and spit it out.
What are Unavoidable Substances?
This applies to things one cannot guard oneself against, and if one were to do so, it would entail unbearable hardship.
Unavoidable Substances
Examples include:
- Water that remains in the mouth and nose from wudu.
- Possible dampness when one is showering.
- Mucus.
- Snot.
- Saliva.
- Saliva that may end up on the lips from talking.
- Bugs and flies.
- Dust.
- Smog from the traffic.
- Flour from a flour mill.
- What may be in the air when working as a construction worker.
The examples above are not exhaustive of what can be considered an unavoidable substance. [‘Ala’uddin Ibn ‘Abidin, al-Hadiyya al-‘Ala’iyya]
Related:
- Does Swallowing Mucus Invalidate My Fast?
- Fasting: A Comprehensive SeekersGuidance Reader
- A Ramadan Reader: A Comprehensive Answers Guide to Getting the Most Out of Ramadan
- The Complete Guide to Fasting
- Principles on what invalidates the fast
- Key Principles Relating to Certainty, Doubt, and Baseless Misgivings (waswasa)
- A Reader on OCD and Waswasa (Baseless Misgivings)
Why not begin your search for knowledge by signing up for a course on SeekersGuidance, such as:
Ramadan Explained (Hanafi)
Shurunbulali’s Ascent to Felicity
I pray this helps with your question.
Wassalam,
[Mawlana] Ilyas Patel
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
Mawlana Ilyas Patel is a traditionally-trained scholar who has studied in the UK, India, Pakistan, Syria, Jordan, and Turkey. He started his early education in the UK. He went on to complete the hifz of the Quran in India, then enrolled in an Islamic seminary in the UK, where he studied the secular and ‘Aalimiyya sciences. He then traveled to Karachi, Pakistan. He has been an Imam in Rep of Ireland for several years. He has taught hifz of the Quran, Tajwid, Fiqh, and many other Islamic sciences to children and adults onsite and online extensively in the UK and Ireland. He taught at a local Islamic seminary for 12 years in the UK, where he was a librarian and a teacher of Islamic sciences. He currently resides in the UK with his wife. His interest is a love of books and gardening.
