Tuesday 9 Ramadan 1445 - 19 March 2024
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Do Suppositories Invalidate the Fast?

Question

Sometimes I feel exhausted and have a headache during the day in Ramadan, and some people advised me to use a suppository to reduce the severity of the headache. Does this medicine invalidate the fast or not? Please advise me, may Allah reward you.

Summary of answer

Using suppositories during the day does not invalidate the fast. Similarly an enema does not invalidate the fast.

Answer

Praise be to Allah.

Using suppositories during the day does not invalidate the fast. Similarly if a fasting person needs an enema, that does not invalidate the fast . There is no evidence to suggest that this is one of the things that breaks the fast, and because that is not food or drink and does not come under the same heading as food and drink. 

Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Tayimiyah said in al-Ikhtiyarat p. 193: 

“Application of kohl and enemas do not invalidate the fast… this is the view of some of the scholars.” 

Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymin said in al-Sharh al-Mumti’ (6/381): 

“The most correct view concerning this matter is the view of Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah – i.e. that an enema does not invalidate the fast.? 

And Allah knows best.

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Source: Islam Q&A