What is the ruling on smelling perfume and incense for the one who is fasting?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : Also, we would like to know the ruling on smelling perfume, whether it is from the spray of an atomizer or… smelling perfume that is incense.
The Shaykh : Yes, smelling perfume is permissible, whether it is oil or incense. However, if it is incense, one should not inhale its smoke, because the smoke has a substance that penetrates into the stomach. It is a body that enters the stomach, so it breaks the fast, just like water and the like. As for merely smelling it without inhaling it so that it reaches the stomach, there is nothing wrong with that.
The questioner : It might be asked: What is the difference, for example, between incense and a drop that descends to the throat, and if one eats while in a state of prayer? Yes.
The Shaykh : We say the difference between them is that the one who sniffs it intentionally intends to bring it into his stomach, whereas with a drop, he does not intend for it to reach his stomach; rather, he intends only to drop it in the nostrils.
The presenter : Yes,
The Shaykh : Yes, smelling perfume is permissible, whether it is oil or incense. However, if it is incense, one should not inhale its smoke, because the smoke has a substance that penetrates into the stomach. It is a body that enters the stomach, so it breaks the fast, just like water and the like. As for merely smelling it without inhaling it so that it reaches the stomach, there is nothing wrong with that.
The questioner : It might be asked: What is the difference, for example, between incense and a drop that descends to the throat, and if one eats while in a state of prayer? Yes.
The Shaykh : We say the difference between them is that the one who sniffs it intentionally intends to bring it into his stomach, whereas with a drop, he does not intend for it to reach his stomach; rather, he intends only to drop it in the nostrils.
The presenter : Yes,
Source
ابن العثيمين - فتاوى الصيام — archive.org (15:38)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.