Also, he has a question regarding Ramadan, asking: Is it permissible for a sick person who is fasting to receive nutritional injections intravenously or intramuscularly? May Allah guide you.
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The questioner : Also, he has a question regarding Ramadan, asking: Is it permissible for a sick person who is fasting to receive nutritional injections intravenously or intramuscularly? May Allah guide you.
The Shaykh : Nutritional injections that serve as a substitute for food and drink are not permissible for a sick person to take unless he is in dire necessity, in which case he may take them and make up the fast. This is because nutritional injections that replace food and drink and suffice in their place are, in reality, equivalent to food and drink, and thus carry the same ruling as food and drink. As for injections intended for treatment and to stimulate the body, which do not replace food and drink, they do not break the fast, whether administered intravenously or intramuscularly, and whether the person tastes them in his throat or not. This is because, in that case, they are not food or drink, nor are they equivalent to food and drink.
However, one could argue regarding nutritional injections that serve as a substitute for food and drink that they also do not break the fast. This is because food and drink provide not only nutrition but also pleasure through appetite and the taste of food. Therefore, you find that a person nourished by these injections has a strong desire for food and drink, which indicates that these injections do not fulfill what food and drink fulfill. It is very possible that food and drink were prohibited for the fasting person not merely because they provide nutrition, but because they provide nutrition and the pleasure of eating and drinking. In that case, nutrition is only part of the operative cause, not the entire cause. It is known that analogical reasoning is only valid if the operative cause is fully present in the new case, just as it was in the original case.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : Nevertheless, I say that the precautionary position is that they break the fast, meaning nutritional injections that serve as a substitute for food and drink.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : The precautionary position is that they break the fast, and that it is not permissible for a fasting person to take them unless he is in dire necessity. In that case, he is excused for breaking his fast, so he breaks it and makes it up. Yes.
The questioner : Yes, Ahmad Muhammad Abd al-Rahman.
The Shaykh : Nutritional injections that serve as a substitute for food and drink are not permissible for a sick person to take unless he is in dire necessity, in which case he may take them and make up the fast. This is because nutritional injections that replace food and drink and suffice in their place are, in reality, equivalent to food and drink, and thus carry the same ruling as food and drink. As for injections intended for treatment and to stimulate the body, which do not replace food and drink, they do not break the fast, whether administered intravenously or intramuscularly, and whether the person tastes them in his throat or not. This is because, in that case, they are not food or drink, nor are they equivalent to food and drink.
However, one could argue regarding nutritional injections that serve as a substitute for food and drink that they also do not break the fast. This is because food and drink provide not only nutrition but also pleasure through appetite and the taste of food. Therefore, you find that a person nourished by these injections has a strong desire for food and drink, which indicates that these injections do not fulfill what food and drink fulfill. It is very possible that food and drink were prohibited for the fasting person not merely because they provide nutrition, but because they provide nutrition and the pleasure of eating and drinking. In that case, nutrition is only part of the operative cause, not the entire cause. It is known that analogical reasoning is only valid if the operative cause is fully present in the new case, just as it was in the original case.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : Nevertheless, I say that the precautionary position is that they break the fast, meaning nutritional injections that serve as a substitute for food and drink.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : The precautionary position is that they break the fast, and that it is not permissible for a fasting person to take them unless he is in dire necessity. In that case, he is excused for breaking his fast, so he breaks it and makes it up. Yes.
The questioner : Yes, Ahmad Muhammad Abd al-Rahman.