Six Things That Break Your Fast

So I can see the people over here. Just just a little. Yeah, we'll need Yeah, that's good. Right there.

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Alhamdulillah. Continuing in the book of fasting, the chapter regarding the pillars of fasting. Now we mentioned that fasting has two pillars. intention which we discussed in detail yesterday and the second pillar refraining from anything that would break a person's fast. We mentioned that there are six things which will break a person's fast and today inshallah we want to u expand our knowledge on these six things. So when we say there are six things that will break a person's fast and we listed them, each of these six things has things that are added to its definition and things that are excluded from its definition. And this is what we want to discuss today. So the first and second things that would break a person's fast eating and drinking purposely the author says now eating and drinking the human being is linguistically in the Arabic language language only known to have eaten something or it is said that this person has eaten something if something goes down the throat. This is the natural path that food and drink takes and that's what is in intended when the scholars of folk say eating or drinking anything purposely. It doesn't just mean food. It means anything that takes the path of food and drink which is the throat. All right? This is what takes the path of food and drink. Whatever it is, whether it's food or not, the issue is not what is being eaten or drank. The issue is the act itself. So in the Arabic language, you would say someone ate something or drank something once it takes the path of the throat down the esophagus into the stomach. This is linguistically what is known as eating or drinking. What's the difference between eating and drinking? Nothing. It's just the that eating is something that's usually solid or something that is a food and drinking is something that is liquid. But ultimately anything that is purposely swallowed this is considered to be food or drink in the definitions of the scholars. So if that's the meaning of it then why is it that we say eating and drinking? Why don't we say swallowing anything? And the answer is that this is what the linguists refer to as This is something that is mentioned because it is usually what is swallowed is food or drink. And so we call it eating or drinking. This is what is most usually swallowed. But it's not the only thing that is swallowed. Person could swallow medicine. A person could you know swallow something that is not food right also a person could inhale something such as smoke or bahul or cigarette smoke or whatever it is all of these things will break a person's fast. Why? Because they are swallowing it. It is going down the throat. Now whether it goes into the lungs or goes into the stomach, this is inconsequential. What is meant is that it goes past the back of the mouth down into the throat or through the nose down into the throat. Anything that makes its way down the throat, this is what will break a person's fast. And so from this we have food or drink obviously we have that which is taken a nasal spray for instance this will break a person's fast and this isn't something new one of the ways that the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam taught the companions to administer medicine using black seed is by way of the nose. This is the most correct way to administer black seed. we know that the prophet sallallah.aii alaihi wasallam tells us in authentic narrations that black seed is a cure for all ailments except for death except for poison. Right now there are many ways to take black seed but the most prominent way in the prophet's sunnah sallallah.aii wasallam is that it be taken through the nose that it be dripped into the nose go through the sinuses and then down the throat. This is how the companions usually would take black seat. But the scholars mention seven ways to administer black seed. And the most prominent of them is through the nose. This also and you know eating and drinking that's not something that really is taken through the nose. You don't eat or drink something through the nose. You eat or drink through the mouth. So how did we come to the conclusion that the nose is also a way for a person to break his fast? Well, there's a narration in which the prophet sallall.aii wasallam taught the companions wudoo woo. He said in teaching them one of the companions he said What is taking through the nose? It is snorting. Okay. So he says," meaning be thorough in snorting the water for except if you are fasting. Now notice this wording here. This narration is critical because it teaches us that the nose is a valid path of food and drink or what would be considered food and drink for our intents and purposes. So he's saying he says and and exaggerate in snorting the water for wudoo unless you are fasting. If you are fasting then do not. That's what we understand from the hadith. Except if you are fasting what's understood meaning if you're fasting don't exaggerate in snorting the water for wudoo. Why? Because it may compromise your wudoo. That's the only that's the only understanding of the narration. And so the scholars cite this narration as evidence that a person would break his fast by snorting. Why? Because anything that is snorted through the nose, it will it will go down into the throat and compromise a person's fasting. So then a question comes up. It's like, well, if that's the yard stick, then what about eye drops? Right? And this is important because the eyes are a kind of mucous membrane. They produce tears, they produce and the ducks from the eyes empty out into the throat, right? So, , if you were to use eye drops or put something in your eye, if there's enough of it, you could taste it or feel it in your throat. So, is that something that would break a person's fast eye drops? And we would say no. It is a very weak opinion. Some scholars have mentioned it but it is a very weak argument that eye drops would break a person's fast. Why even though it goes through the throat? Why is it such a weak argument? Well, it's a weak argument for a number of reasons. Number one, there's no mention of it anywhere in the Sunnah. Imagine with me hundreds, thousands of companions in Medina, the most rigorous Muslims that have ever walked this earth. There there will never be a generation of collective of Muslims that care more about doing right and avoiding mistakes in their religion than the companions of Muhammad sallall.aii wasallam. they will never exist. They are the most righteous. They are the most cautious and they are the most knowledgeable of any companion of any prophet or messenger ever. And we don't have any time in which the prophet sallall.aii wasallam told them that this would break their fast. and no instance in which they asked and no instance in which they in their fatella to the following generation told people that this would break their fast. So then someone would say well you know maybe they didn't have eye drops at that time. That is a very silly argument because of course they had eye drops in their time. It may not have been sold by CVS. It wasn't sold by Walgreens. It didn't come with a tamperproof packaging. But yes, they used eye drops. They used cohul. And not only that, but it's a type of prophetic medicine. Who knows one of the most important things for correcting vision in the sunnah of Muhammad sallall.aii wasallam. Tell us anyone. Now there is a type of is it's a type of stone that is ground down. It's a very particular type of stone. It is ground down into a fine powder. Okay? And there's different types of it. And often it is used for beauty, right? It's used to accentuate the eyes, make the eyes look bigger. But not always. Some types of are therapeutic. And in the narration of Ibah, he said, He said, , I urge you to use and especially before going to sleep at night because it sharpens vision and helps to and it it also helps to grow out the eyelashes. It encourages eyelash growth. Right? So, elithmid is a very specific type of rock. Usually, it comes from areas in North Africa Morocco or Jeze Algeria, Tunisia, these areas. And alth you'll know it when you see it because it is more gray than it is black. And it looks it has little it looks it has glitter in it. That's what it looks when you when you put it up in the light. It sparkles almost glitter, but it is it is gray. It's not this color. It's gray brother Mox shirt there. This is called Elithmid and it's actually it's pretty expensive, right? I used it for many years for my eyesight and I can testify that yes, it is very very good. I've never had as good eyesight as I did when I was using althan. I had actually someone went to Morocco. I said, "Look, there's Ithmid there. I need you to bring it for me." And it was a little little bottle this big. It was very expensive for me. It was like $300 at that time. This was almost 20 years ago. It might as well have been $3 million for me at that time because that was a lot of money for me. And I used it for years and it was very very good every night before you go to sleep. And the prophet sallallah.aii was use it very often. he would use it three times in the right and two times in the left. You could go to an Islamic shop, a Muslim store, what we used to call them Muslim stores, and you'll find this kohul in a little box and it's got, you know, ordo written on it or Arabic written on it, and it's called, and you get a big bottle like this, and it's very jet black, right? And it actually a lot of these cheap knockoff have lead in them. So, not only is that bad for your eyes, but it's pretty bad for your brain as well. However, realmid is very critical part of the prophet's sunnah. He used it all the time. And most of the imams of Islam in those earlier generations and the companions, most of his companions, men and women all used, right? As a matter of fact, it was so ubiquitous and so common that Imam Malik was asked why he doesn't use it because he didn't used to use alithmat. And the reason that he didn't use it wasn't because you know he wasn't following the sunnah was because you know of the general implications at that time. It was for a different reason. So the point is is that this is something that was extremely common place. Could you imagine the prophet sallallah.aii alaihi wasallam in Ramadan. His companions come to see him during the day of Ramadan and they have in their eyes and and it would break their fast and he never says anything about it. Is that reasonable? he sees that they're clearly using while they're fasting in their eyes, but then he doesn't say anything about it. He doesn't mention it. He doesn't say don't do that. this will break your fast. He never said that. So, we understand from his silence that it is something that does not break your fast. And actually, when you're using alth when you first put it in, you can very clearly taste it in your throat. If you spit, it will come out in your saliva as well if you put enough. And so this is something that most of the companions used, probably all of the women used and the prophet sallall.aii wasallam in all of his sunnah in nine years of fasting Ramadan in in 14 years of fasting ashur and other types of fast. And never once did he mention that this breaks your fast. But then two 300 years later we start to say well you know it would break your fast. Very weak argument. Very weak. And for this reason, the majority of scholars do not hold this opinion that anything administered to the eye, whether it is eye drops or kohul or anything else, whether it's for therapy or it is for cosmetic purposes. It will not break a person's fast nor the ear. The ear is also something that goes into the throat, right? That's why doctors are ear nose and throat doctors because they're all connected there. And nothing that is administered into the ear will break a person's fast. Even if you feel the taste in your throat or feel something in your throat, it's very negligible. And this is an important point and we'll end with this point and that is that which is extremely negligible but is hard to avoid. Okay. So Allah describes Islam as Allah has negated that he has placed any haraj any undue or unnecessary difficulty or inconvenience upon us in our religion. Right? And so one of the types of haraj is something that is negligible but it is also very hard to avoid. This will not break a person's fast like what so for instance when a person makes woo you put the water in your mouth right and you spit it out. When you spit this water out, did every last little tiny tiny tiny tiny microscopic bit of water come out of your mouth with that? Huh? Is there any narrations where he would make wudoo and then spend the next five minutes spitting to get everything out? Don't swallow after making wool for five minutes. Huh? Were they walking around with cans that they were spitting in after woo? Right. No. Why? There is a minuscule an infantismal amount of water that will invariably go down a person's throat after making woo. But it is negligible and it is almost unavoidable. You notice the the two the two parts here not just negligible but also what unavoidable those two together make al if we were commanded to avoid that which is unavoidable and negligible. This would be the exact definition of halage, right? Therefore, that which is negligible and unavoidable, this is not counted. Same thing with, for instance, a person's clothing. If you were so careful to never get any kind of neessa on your clothes, right? But you're living in the world with people, right? You're sitting down in a place where a dog could have sat. You're drinking from a well that something could have fallen into you. Right. Is it not conceivable that there is some slight tiny tiny tiny amount of neessa involved in that? Yes. You go into a restroom or you go to use the restroom and there's tiny tiny tiny amount of ness that it gets onto your person or onto this is something which is tiny infantismal tiny negligible and it is almost unavoidable. Therefore, it is haraj Islam overlooks that right and from this reasons you'll see in the fatawa of the scholars that they do not consider an inhaler for asthma to break a person's fast. This will not break a person's fast. Why didn't we say that smoking and didn't we say yes but it is what? Negligible and it is unavoidable. Therefore, it is what overlooked. There is a very big difference between an inhaler which it is gaseous but it will become a liquid when it gets into the throat. You will taste it, right? But how much of that is actually there? Tiny tiny minuscule amounts. Less than when you make woo, right? And it goes into the lungs. Therefore, it does not break a person's fast. Very different than smoking. Smoking is a big amount and it is avoidable right and it is therefore it is not a haraj therefore it will break a person's fast and so this is a good point to take yes we'll end with this and show.

[Arabic recitation]

Their fast for it, but it doesn't it is a type of illness. And if a person had to take a some kind of liquid form that goes into the stomach or a person had to take some kind of pill or something, yeah, it's a valid reason to break a person's fast. But just the inhaler as it is, no. Right. Yes. Right? So we mentioned the threshold here is the throat not the mouth not the nose because both we use to make woo. For this reason in his mentions that tasting does not break a person's fast. This is something that companions used to do. They were cooking whatever. You go to the market when you you taste something and then spit it out. This is fine. And it has the same ruling as making no different. Same thing with bah for instance. Let's say I walk into a room that has bah in it, right? That's smoke. And I'm going to taste it in my mouth. Will it break my woo or break my fast? No. because it's unintentional unintentional and it's something that's being put onto you, right? Contrary to me lighting bahul and then putting my thing over it and sucking it in, this will break a person's woo. The scholars have noted this specifically as breaking woo, breaking woo, breaking a person's fast. Yes.

[Arabic recitation]

Mean, you know, we to think we're special. Our time, we have so much stuff they didn't have back then. No, they had most of it. 99% right now.

[Arabic recitation]

Go to inhale a big amount, right? But if I were to light behold in the masid or in my room, is that permissible? Yes, permissible. doesn't break a person's fast. So, we will stop there inshallah. We'll continue tomorrow. There's still more to talk about with regards to eating and drinking. A whole other aspect that I didn't get into. We'll talk about it tomorrow, inshallah.

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Yeah, just right. Good. Thank you.