Question & Inquiry:
Does using an asthma inhaler (medicinal aerosol spray) break the fast during the blessed month of Ramadan?
According to the dominant consensus of contemporary medical-jurisprudence assemblies, medicinal asthma inhalers do not invalidate the fast, and patients may use them when needed without making up the day.
Detailed Answer & Evidence:
In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful.
Praise be to Allah. The use of therapeutic asthma inhalers during fasting has been investigated thoroughly by contemporary scholars in conjunction with certified pulmonary physicians.
The International Islamic Fiqh Academy (Resolution No. 93) determined that inhalers do not break the fast for the following reasons:
- The aerosolized compound is pressurized gas directed toward the respiratory bronchioles in the lungs to alleviate severe constriction, not toward the stomach or alimentary canal.
- The minuscule amount of liquid suspension that could conceivably enter the esophagus is negligible and far less than the residual water left in the mouth after obligatory Wudu rinses (Madmadah).
- Allah states in Surah Al-Baqarah (2:185): "Allah intends for you ease and does not intend for you hardship."
Therefore, asthmatic patients may utilize their inhalers whenever required, and their fast remains valid with no Qada' (make-up fast) mandated.
Classical Jurisprudence References:
International Islamic Fiqh Academy Resolution No. 93 (10/1); Permanent Committee for Scholarly Research (Fatwa No. 19602).
Sheikh Dr. Tariq Al-Mansoor
PhD in Quranic Sciences & Ijazah in Ten Qira'at (Al-Azhar University)