Use of an inhaler and steam treatment while fasting

25/07/2010| IslamWeb

Question:

My mother is chronic asthma patient, but she keeps the fast regularly. While fasting sometimes she has to use inhalers or steam to regulate her breathing. Does this affect her fast? I would like to know which school of Fiqh do you follow when answering the questions? Do you follow Shiite scholars or otherwise?

Fatwa:

All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger, may Allah exalt his mention as well as that of his family and all his companions.

 

It is known that taking inhalations for Asthma breaks the fast, because this is a solution that reaches the throat, and therefore it will undoubtedly reach the stomach. If the fasting person is in need of using such a medicine during the day, in the same way a patient is in need of taking a medicine (either drinking or eating it) he is allowed to break the fast, and make up for each day he broke the fast in. 

 

But we mentioned what is common, because the texts of scholars all agree that whichever solution reaches the throat is considered among those which reach the stomach, and anything that reaches the stomach deliberately by mouth is considered among things that break the fast.

 

All the Muftis in Islamweb belong to Ahlus-Sunnah Wal-Jamaa'h in creed and in subdivisions.  The rulings in Islamweb are not bound to any particular school, but rather they are given according to the most preponderant answers of the scholars based on Islamic jurisdiction evidences.

Allah Knows best.

Fatwa answered by: The Fatwa Center at Islamweb