THINGS THAT DO NOT BREAK THE FAST

To eat and drink something unintentionally.

A mosquito, fly or any other object going down the throat unintentionally.

Water entering the ears.

Dust or dirt going down the throat.

Swallowing one’s own saliva.

Taking an injection.

Applying of surma (kuhl: antimony) into the eyes.

Taking a bath to keep cool.

Rubbing oil onto the body or hair.

To vomit unintentionally.

Applying itr or perfume. It is not permitted to inhale the smoke of loban or agar batti whilst fasting. It is also not permitted to smoke cigarettes or inhale its smoke.

Brushing the teeth without tooth paste or powder, e.g., using a miswak, etc.

A dream which makes ghusl wajib (necessary) does not break the fast.

THINGS DISLIKED WHILE FASTING

To chew gum, rubber, plastic items or other such things (F: which are chewed, but not swallowed, and nothing reaches the stomach, for otherwise the fast would be broken).

To taste any article of food or drink and spit it out (F: without anything being swallowed). If a woman has a very ill tempered husband, it is permissible for her to taste the food, provided it does not go down her throat.

To collect one’s saliva in the mouth and then to swallow it, trying to quench thirst.

To delay a bath that has become obligatory intentionally until after fajr time.

To use paste or tooth powder to clean one’s teeth. It is permitted to use a miswak of any permissible fresh branch or root (tooth stick). [If one wishes to use toothpaste, one should brush one’s teeth before the fast begins.]

To complain of hunger and thirst.

To take the water too much up the nostrils when cleaning the nose.

To gargle more than necessary (f: because if any water goes down the throat, even accidentally, the fast is invalidated).

To quarrel, argue, use filthy or indecent words.

To backbite, tell a lie and swear are sinful acts even when one is not fasting. Therefore they become even worse when fasting.

THINGS THAT BREAK ONE’S FAST BUT REQUIRE ONLY A MAKEUP

Anything put by force into the mouth of a fasting person.

Water going down the throat whilst gargling, (whilst being conscious of one’s fast).

To vomit mouthful intentionally or to return vomit down the throat.

Intentionally swallowing a pebble, piece of paper or any item that is not used as food or medicine.

Swallowing something edible, equal to or bigger than a grain of gram which was stuck between the teeth. However if it is first taken out of the mouth and swallowed, it will break the fast whether it is smaller or bigger than the size of a gram.

Dripping oil into the ear canal (F: such that it goes beyond the ear drum).

Inhaling snuff into the nostrils.

Swallowing the blood from the gums if the color of the blood is more than the saliva with which it is mixed.

To eat and drink forgetting that one is fasting and thereafter thinking that the fast is broken, to eat and drink again. [F: There are three ways something can enter your body cavity while fasting:

Deliberately. This breaks the fast;

Forgetfully. This does not, because of the Prophetic (Allah bless him & give him peace) guidance that it does not. (Otherwise, legal reasoning (qiyas) alone would have indicated that it does.)

Mistakenly/Accidentally. This breaks the fast. An example: what you mentioned; or if one ate thinking that fajr time had not come in or maghrib time come in, when the contrary was true.]

10. To eat and drink after subha sadiq or to break the fast before sunset due to a cloudy sky or a faulty watch, etc., and then realizing one’s fault.

The Fiqh of Fasting