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Will an injection, contrast dye, drip or using an inhaler break my fast?

Will an injection, contrast dye, drip or using an inhaler break my fast?
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October 10, 2022
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In general, a fast is broken when you swallow something and it enters the stomach or gives the body nutrition. Medicine taken into the body that does not enter the stomach is permissible.

Injections

Intravenous and intramuscular injections do not break a fast.

Injections that administer medicine or vaccinations into the body, whether intravenous (through the veins) or intramuscular (through the muscles) do not break the fast. They do not directly enter the stomach.

A fast is invalidated if you use a drip, as you are receiving hydration and if you need a drip then you are sick and should not be fasting.

Part of fasting is experiencing weakness and hunger. If one is pepping up one’s system by injecting supplements like vitamin C, this would not be permissible.

Dental work

You can have an anaesthetic injection while fasting, but be careful not to swallow anything during the dental work for instance from the water spray. If you swallow it, your fast will be invalidated.

Contrast dye

Contrast dye injected through vein, for instance for an MRI, Xray, CT scan or ultrasound, or inserted via the rectum through a tube do not invalidate a fast. Contrast dyes ingested by mouth would invalidate a fast.

Blood test

Having a blood test does not invalidate a fast, as it is merely the taking out of blood. It is only disliked if it could weaken one from being able to fast.

Inhalers

In general the use of oral medication invalidates a fast. Inhalers are taken by mouth, are meant to direct medicine into the lungs not the stomach. There is a difference of opinion among scholars whether a substance entering the lungs would invalidate the fast or not.

If you follow the opinion that a substance entering the lungs does not invalidate the fast, and is permissible, you have to make sure that the inhaler is being used properly. Many people do not use them properly and by not inhaling at the right time, they end up ingesting the medicine into their stomach rather than their lungs. This would invalidate a fast. It is therefore preferable to avoid using inhalers whilst fasting, or to use a spacer as it helps reduce the likelihood if the medicine entering the stomach.

Gas and air (entonox)

According to the International Islamic Fiqh Academy entonox does not break a fast.

Shaykh Haytham Tamim

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Shaykh Haytham Tamim is the founder and main teacher of the Utrujj Foundation. He has provided a leading vision for Islamic learning in the UK, which has influenced the way Islamic knowledge is disseminated. He has orchestrated the design and delivery of over 200 unique courses since Utrujj started in 2001. His extensive expertise spans over 30 years across the main Islamic jurisprudence schools of thought. He has studied with some of the foremost scholars in their expertise; he holds some of the highest Ijazahs (certificates) in Quran, Hadith (the Prophetic traditions) and Fiqh (Islamic rulings). His own gift for teaching was evident when he gave his first sermon to a large audience at the age of 17 and went on to serve as a senior lecturer of Islamic transactions and comparative jurisprudence at the Islamic University of Beirut (Shariah College). He has continued to teach; travelling around the UK, Europe and wider afield, and won the 2015 BISCA award (British Imams & Scholars Contributions & Achievements Awards) for Outstanding Contribution to Education and Teaching.

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