Does Dust Entering One’s Mouth Inadvertently Break One’s Fast?
Hanafi Fiqh
Answered by Mawlana Ilyas Patel
Question
While fasting, I intentionally removed my house curtain, and dust inadvertently entered my throat/got swallowed.
I was intentionally praying in a dusty room, and dust had entered my throat/got swallowed/got sniffed into my throat (for example, my nose got blocked due to the dustiness of the room, and I sniffed my nose to clear it, and dust entered into my throat and I swallowed it)?
Answer
In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate.
I pray you are in good faith and health.
Dust that enters one’s mouth and is sniffed in the above manner will not invalidate one’s fast. An unavoidable substance will invalidate the fast if deliberately swallowed or inhaled.
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.
An unavoidable substance will invalidate the fast if deliberately swallowed or inhaled. [Rafi Usmani, Dabit al-Mufattirat (Principles on What Invalidates the Fast); Ibn ‘Abidin, Radd al-Muhtar; ʿAla’ al-din ʿAbidin, al-Hadiyya al-‘Ala’iyya]
Related:
Fasting: A Comprehensive SeekersGuidance Reader
A Ramadan Reader: A Comprehensive Answers Guide to Getting the Most Out of Ramadan
The Complete Guide to Fasting
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.
