If a fasting person tastes blood in his throat during the day of Ramadan, but he does not know the source and is unable to prevent it, is his fast valid?

The questioner : If a fasting person tastes blood in his throat during the day of Ramadan, but he does not know the source and is unable to prevent this blood, is his fast valid?

The Shaykh : It is as ifThe questioner : It means he swallowed the blood that came out of his mouth or his gums. The answer is that the rule regarding what breaks the fast in terms of food and drink is only what enters the stomach from the outside. This does not apply to him, as nothing from the outside has entered his mouth and then his stomach, so it does not break the fast. However, out of a sense of cleanliness, he should spit out this blood that came from one of the sides of his mouth and not swallow it as long as he is able to do so. I must say, on the occasion of what was included in this question, that he was unable to do so, that it is actually possible for him and those like him. However, the matter returns to the customs and traditions we have followed, some of which relate to what is called today civilization or urbanity. I preface this speech by saying that some of the Salaf, including Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him), when he stood to pray and was overcome by phlegm, would spit it into his garment. This is the way out, but we do not do this today. Why? Because we claim that we are civilized and that this is filth. But the greater filth is for a person to swallow what he finds disgusting and let it enter his stomach. This is greater filth, but it is the custom and the upbringing that the current generation is raised on, which can be called by a foreign word, "Western etiquette," meaning a delicacy that has no basis or taste in Islamic law. The Muslim who is well-versed in his religion, when he is caught between two evils and must choose one, chooses the lesser of the two evils. The lesser of the two evils is that he extends his hand and takes a paper, a handkerchief, a rag, or whatever you call it, and spits into one end of it. Then, after a while, he rubs it, as the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did with semen. When he saw his semen on his garment, if it was wet, he would scrape it off, and if it was dry, he would rub it off, and the garment would be as if that water, which a person finds disgusting by nature and fitrah, had not touched it, even though he was created from that semen. In conclusion, there is nothing wrong with the fast. However, in connection with the previous speech, breaking the fast is due to what enters from the outside, not what comes out from the inside. Here is a detail that every fasting person must know, because it may happen to him or to someone who relies on him, and that is vomiting. A person may vomit due to illness, overeating, or any other reason. This vomiting does not break the fast, and there is no justification for distinguishing between the vomiting filling the mouth or being less than that. All of this does not break the fast. Vomiting does not break the fast, whether it fills the mouth or is less than that. What breaks the fast is inducing vomiting, which is intentionally emptying the stomach. Here the ruling is the opposite of what was mentioned before. The ruling here is that it breaks the fast, whether it is a little or a lot, whether it fills the mouth or is less than that. The difference between being overcome by vomiting and seeking it out by one's own choice is that what overcomes him has no consequence, but what he seeks out by inducing it and intending it is what breaks his fast.