Practicing exercise during fasting

6-10-2010 | IslamWeb

Question:

Peace be upon you. is it permissible to clean ears after taking ghusul or ablution and during fasting can one exercise? Thank you.

Answer:

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His Slave and Messenger.

There is no blame on the fasting person to clean his ears after or before Ghusl (ritual bath) or ablution. The fast would not be invalidated even if the water entered the ears of the fasting person, as has previously been clarified in Fatwa 87263.

As for exercise during fasting, some physicians have told us that a lot of those who practice exercise during fasting are exposed to renal failure and dehydration due to the effort they exert. Being so, one should avoid exercise during fasting because the Messenger of Allaah, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, said: “There should be no harm nor reciprocal harm.” [Ahmad and Ibn Maajah]

Furthermore, exercise during fasting may make it difficult for the fasting person to complete his fasting. Hence, the fasting person should keep his fast from being invalidated and it is impermissible for him to do anything he knows, or predominantly thinks, that it would invalidate his fasting without a valid reason considerable under Sharee‘ah.

For this reason, the scholars stated that it is unlawful for the fasting person to dip his body in water if he knows that water would enter into his abdomen because of that dipping. Also, the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, forbade the fasting person to snuff water into his nostrils (during ablution) too strongly, saying: “And snuff water into your nostrils (during ablution) strongly, unless you are fasting.” [Narrated by Abu Daawood, At-Tirmithi, Ibn Maajah and An-Nasaa’i, and graded as sound by Ibn Khuzaymah] Thus, he, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, forbade the fasting person to snuff water into his nostrils too strongly, though this act is valid under Sharee‘ah in principle, lest it would invalidate his fasting by causing the water to enter into his abdomen.

Likewise, there is no doubt that the exercise for the fasting person may cause him to be unable to complete fasting.

Allaah Knows best.

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