Constantly Bleeding Gums & Fasting

Answered by Waseem Hussain

Question: My gums always bleeds when I’m sleeping. This always invalidates my wudu, since the saliva is red. I also heard that if I swallow unintentionally the red saliva, my fast is broken. I don’t know what to do and it creates hardship for me, and I have another strong problem, which is waswasa in my worship. I’m afraid to swallow red saliva, so during all the day, I spit out non stop…

Answer: Walaikum Salam Warahmatullah

Your fast has not been invalidated. The default is that you have not swallowed clear red-saliva and there is no reason to assume you have unless you are absolutely 100% certain that it happened.

You are not required to check your saliva all the time to see whether it is clearly red or not. Therefore, you are not required to spit out all the time and you can safely assume that there is nothing in the saliva.

Even if it would happen, then if you have a special condition that entails constant bleeding from the mouth, like having a tooth pulled out or having had a root canal or the like then swallowing the saliva will not invalidate the fast.

And Allah knows best,

Waseem

[Ibn `Abidin, Radd al-Muhtar 6:265; Ibn Malak, Sharh al-Tuhfa 2:1283; Zaili, Hadiyat al-Sa’luk 128]

Checked & Approved by Faraz Rabbani