What is the ruling on using an asthma inhaler while fasting?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question : Honorable Shaykh, regarding the inhaler used by asthma patients, they are also inquiring about its ruling, Shaykh?
Answer : What we see is that the one who uses the inhaler falls into two categories. The first category is droplets that are released from the device in his hand and then burst in the mouth, and some of them descend to the stomach. This is not permissible except in case of dire necessity, in which case it is permissible, and he makes up the day in its place. And in this case, if he breaks his fast, he may eat and drink for the rest of the day, because the safe fast is not obligatory upon him. The second category is a gas that does not reach the stomach, so this does not invalidate the fast, because it is not eating or drinking, and it has no substance that reaches the stomach, so it does not break the fast.
The presenter : May Allah reward you,
Answer : What we see is that the one who uses the inhaler falls into two categories. The first category is droplets that are released from the device in his hand and then burst in the mouth, and some of them descend to the stomach. This is not permissible except in case of dire necessity, in which case it is permissible, and he makes up the day in its place. And in this case, if he breaks his fast, he may eat and drink for the rest of the day, because the safe fast is not obligatory upon him. The second category is a gas that does not reach the stomach, so this does not invalidate the fast, because it is not eating or drinking, and it has no substance that reaches the stomach, so it does not break the fast.
The presenter : May Allah reward you,
Source
ابن العثيمين - فتاوى على الهاتف - فتاوى الصيام — archive.org (4:11)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.