What is the ruling on using an asthma inhaler during the day in Ramadan?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : This questioner says: What is the ruling on using an asthma inhaler during the day in Ramadan if the fasting person is suffering from difficulty breathing?
The Shaykh : Is there any one of the students of medicine here? Is there anyone? Hmm? Well, what do you say about this inhaler?
The questioner : I tell you, the medication, this is what goes to the lungs and opens the airways only; it has no connection to the stomach at all.
The Shaykh : Yes, and what is this? It is a vapor, not a liquid or anything.
The questioner : It has a type of compressed liquid in these inhalers such that a person can breathe easily while breathing.
The Shaykh : But it does not reach the stomach.
The questioner : Okay. Is it a blood inhaler or what? How? Is it a blood inhaler or what? The inhaler is understood, but breathing is not swallowing.
The Shaykh : I say to her: We are now relying on the statement of an expert. But if an oath were taken, I do not know what this inhaler used to open the passages of the tunnel means. It does not break the fast of the fasting person; rather, he uses it and his fast is valid, unless some of it accumulates in his mouth, in which case he must spit it out. But if it does not accumulate, he owes nothing. First, because, as the brother said, it does not reach the stomach. Second, because it is minute particles that evaporate and disappear. A fatwa was issued by the Council of Senior Scholars years ago that it does not break the fast of the fasting person.
The Shaykh : Is there any one of the students of medicine here? Is there anyone? Hmm? Well, what do you say about this inhaler?
The questioner : I tell you, the medication, this is what goes to the lungs and opens the airways only; it has no connection to the stomach at all.
The Shaykh : Yes, and what is this? It is a vapor, not a liquid or anything.
The questioner : It has a type of compressed liquid in these inhalers such that a person can breathe easily while breathing.
The Shaykh : But it does not reach the stomach.
The questioner : Okay. Is it a blood inhaler or what? How? Is it a blood inhaler or what? The inhaler is understood, but breathing is not swallowing.
The Shaykh : I say to her: We are now relying on the statement of an expert. But if an oath were taken, I do not know what this inhaler used to open the passages of the tunnel means. It does not break the fast of the fasting person; rather, he uses it and his fast is valid, unless some of it accumulates in his mouth, in which case he must spit it out. But if it does not accumulate, he owes nothing. First, because, as the brother said, it does not reach the stomach. Second, because it is minute particles that evaporate and disappear. A fatwa was issued by the Council of Senior Scholars years ago that it does not break the fast of the fasting person.
Source
دروس وفتاوى المسجد الحرام لعام 1403هـ - 8 — binothaimeen.net (53:26)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.